The Cursed Ones
by JolinarJackson
Summary: Something is lurking in the dark, preying on time itself. Jack has no time to worry about that, though, or about Owen's behaviour or Ianto's empathy playing havoc, because an old enemy of Torchwood One returns, forcing Torchwood and UNIT to stand united. Not an alliance easily forged with, since UNIT is endangering not only Torchwood's existence, but also Ianto's personal freedom.
1. Chapter 1

**The Cursed Ones**

_Series: _Mosaic 'Verse

_Word Count: _~ 49.800

_Summary: _Something is lurking in the dark, preying on time itself. And yet, Jack has no time to worry about that or about Owen's grief over Diane or Ianto's empathy playing havoc, because an old enemy of Torchwood One returns. Facing a threat to humankind, Torchwood and UNIT have to stand united and trust each other. Not an alliance easily forged with, since UNIT is not only a threat to Torchwood's existence, but also to Ianto's personal freedom.

_Characters: _Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper, Harold Saxon, Harriet Jones, Archie, the Seer, Rhys Williams, Myfanwy, OCs

_Pairing: _Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Gwen/Owen, Owen/Diane Holmes (past), Ianto/Lisa Hallett (past)

_Rating: _R

_Spoiler: Cyberwoman, Out Of Time, Fragments, _characters from _Children of Earth_ / Doctor Who: _The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances, The Parting Of The Ways, Army Of Ghosts, Doomsday, The Christmas Invasion_

_Setting: _after _Out Of Time_

_Warnings: _Discussions of rape / dubious consent, suicide, violence, partner betrayal, alcohol abuse

_Contains: _Empathy, sex, language

_Author's Note: _I know it's been a long time and a lot of the readers of this series might have left fandom by now, but this had to be posted. This story grew much more complex than I intended it to be, which is pretty much the case for all stories of this series. I'm eternally grateful to those who waited this long for it, to my translator who is responsible for the German version and also to my beta readers, who soldiered through this with suggestions and comments.

_Translation: _ladycharena translated this story into German, which was a lot of hard work. Thank you!

_Beta: _The English version was read by larsinger29, who did this even though real life was being quite busy for her. And pechfeder read the German version and got me thinking of the sequel already. Thank you both!

_Disclaimer: _I'm not making money with this fanfic. The tv-shows _Torchwood _and_ Doctor Who _and the characters appearing within it belong to their producers and creators. Any similarities to living or dead persons are purely coincidental and not intended.

This is part six of a series. While it's not necessary to know the prequels to understand the main plot of this story, there are references to previous parts.

**Prequels:**

Roots

The Enemy Within

This Crying Earth

The Golden Boy

Echoes

The Shadow Cult

xxx

**Prologue**

Captain Tyler Shepherd didn't think that the Christmas decoration fit the UNIT headquarters in London, far beneath the Tower. They looked rather sad on the concrete walls and the thick security doors, and in the command centre on sub-level 11, they only emanated weak light, drowned out by the harsh glow of computer screens and the blue hue the huge flat screen on the wall was causing in the dim light.

Without a doubt it had been one of the scientists who'd come up with the idea to decorate. No UNIT soldier would do this, considering their CO General Pizano didn't approve of such things. There was nothing Pizano could do about the scientists' Christmas spirit, though.

Tyler frowned at a plastic Christmas tree someone had left in a corner of the hallway and passed through yet another security door to arrive at Colonel Thompson's office door. In front of it, he straightened his uniform carefully and made sure that no unruly blonde locks were sticking out from underneath his red beret. He took a deep breath. This was an important moment for his career. He'd taken action and showed some initiative and now was the time to let his supervisor know the answer to the question he'd been brooding over for over half a year.

Tyler knocked loudly.

"Come in," the Colonel's gruff voice answered.

Tyler entered. Thompson's office didn't have any Christmas decoration at all, reflecting the man's unwavering professionalism in his place of work. Tyler had heard through the grapevine that, in private, Thompson was a nice and actually quite funny bloke, but there was no sign of that persona when he was wearing his UNIT uniform. Tyler didn't mind, though, preferring to have a professional as a CO who could teach him a lot instead of a supervisor who would treat him like a friend and not teach him anything at all.

He saluted. "Colonel Thompson, sir."

"What is it, Captain?" Thompson was reading through some files, the glasses on his strict face an unusual sight. He never wore them outside of his office. His short black hair wasn't covered by the beret, which was perched against his desk lamp. It was the only part of his uniform not in order.

Tyler cleared his throat, knowing - hoping - that his words would evoke a certain reaction. "I found something, sir. On the tapes."

Thompson raised his eyebrows. "I thought you were through with them a month ago."

"Yes, sir, but another batch was found among the last of the debris to be cleared out of the warehouse and was sent here yesterday. The techs managed to salvage some of the damage. Enough for us to …" He swallowed nervously, not quite sure if he should go as far as to say it, but at the same time proud enough of his find not to. "We found enough to make a case against someone, sir."

Thompson's expression changed from one of mild interest into one of surprise and then grim determination, as expected. Thompson got up and placed his reading glasses on the desk. "Show me."

The way back to the video lab wasn't very long, Thompson striding along behind Tyler quietly. The lab was empty when they arrived, just as Tyler had hoped, the footage he'd watched last still flickering on the five screens, frozen. Tyler offered Thompson one of the chairs before he sat himself and switched off the lights. Then, after a short intake of breath, he pressed play. The image was grizzly at best, but it was good enough to see what was going on.

Tyler cleared his throat and explained, "This is Torchwood One's basement, sir. The entryway to the garage to be exact."

He saw Thompson's brow furrow and the grim lines around his mouth deepen and knew what was causing the reaction: In the bare corridor, lit by flickering lights, there were bodies lying on the floor, pools of blood surrounding them. In other places, smears of blood led to believe that some people had been bleeding while being dragged away to be converted. Tyler felt angry just looking at this small snapshot of carnage. He hadn't been to Canary Wharf after it had happened, being on an assignment in Washington, but Thompson had been there and rumour had it that it left him shaken. His determination to find redemption was just as widely known. And now Tyler was able to present a culprit.

"Here it is, sir, look," Tyler said when he saw movement at the corner of the footage. "There he comes." Tyler didn't watch the screen, he watched Thompson's reaction to it. The way he frowned in confusion when he saw a man drag someone else towards the garage, the way his eyes widened in shock when he realized that the person being dragged was a Cyberman, the way his gaze became murderous when he realized the implications.

Finally, he hit pause and asked, "Someone helped one of those things to escape?"

"They weren't found, yet, sir. They could still be out there."

"Did we get his face?"

"It was mirrored in one of the windows of the doors. The techs say they can get a clearer image but it's going to take some time."

Thompson huffed. "Tell them to hurry up." He stared at the screen, zooming in on the figure of the man dragging the Cyberman with him.

He seemed to be young in Tyler's estimation, the suit he was wearing had probably been good quality once but clearly badly damaged by the war raging in Torchwood One. Whatever had possessed him to rescue one of those monsters from the ruins, Tyler couldn't even begin to understand.

Thompson seemed to think the same. "We've got a traitor to catch."


	2. Chapter 2

**1.**

Ianto Jones woke feeling warm and comfortable. He breathed in deeply and peeked at his alarm, the bright red digital numbers telling him it wouldn't go off for another hour. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and pulled the duvet up higher around his shoulders, rolling around to doze for a few more minutes ... and coming face to face with Jack smiling at him in the grey early morning light of December. He was lying stretched out on the other side of Ianto's bed, fully clothed and with one hand under his head, completely relaxed. And even though this wasn't an unusual sight, it was unexpected this morning. Jack had left yesterday evening, intending to check on the Hub and spend the night there.

Ianto blinked. "What are you doing here?"

Jack winked at him. "Waiting for you to wake up."

"Why?"

"So we can have hot, rushed 'We really need to get to the office soon' sex."

Ianto had been afraid of that. When Jack wanted to talk, he called. When he wanted sex, he came over. Which had been fine until now, more than fine. But then the time travellers had come through the Rift and one of them had committed suicide in front of Jack and then, there had been Christmas. Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, which Ianto had spent with Jack, had been lovely. And during that time, something in him had shifted, making it hard to really relax around Jack. He'd forced himself to, though, because Jack had needed him to. Two days, he'd sworn himself. Two days only and then he would change things.

But now, lying face to face with Jack, it became hard to hold himself to that promise. "We spent the last two days having sex," he tried an excuse.

"Tired of me already?" Jack asked.

That wasn't the problem at all. More the opposite. Ianto forced a smile. "How did you get in anyway?"

"I have a key."

"I never gave you one."

"Sure you did."

Ianto raised an eyebrow. "I gave one to my boss for emergencies. I didn't give you a key to use in case of being horny."

Jack grinned wickedly, his blue eyes having regained the sparkle they'd been missing over the last few days. "Define emergency." He leaned over and kissed him, pulling him closer at the same time. Jack's lips were warm and gentle, one leg hooking over Ianto's hip to keep him near, his hand running through Ianto's hair and down his back.

Arousal curled in Ianto's stomach, too used to Jack's body against his, and he had difficulties finding his resolve. Finally, he managed to whisper into the kiss, "We really need to get to work."

Jack smiled down at him, his hand working its way underneath the duvet. "No, we don't," he answered. "The alarm hasn't gone off yet." His grin brightened when his hand closed around Ianto's cock. "So we still have some time."

Ianto drew in a sharp breath and gasped, cursing himself for his weakness. Knowing he couldn't win this argument, though, swearing it would be the last time, he answered, "I guess we do."

xxx

Ianto hadn't been in the Hub for two days. Almost as if the Rift was willing to give them all a break, Christmas had gone by without a hitch in the Rift alert system. Or maybe the time travellers coming through had calmed it for a little while. Ianto didn't really care what the reason was. He was just glad that it hadn't come to any alarms, simply because they'd all needed a break.

Especially Jack and Owen.

It had been late on the 24th of December that Jack had shown up at Ianto's flat, bringing groceries and DVDs. Ianto had been surprised but unable to really take in the implications since Jack had quickly started to strip him. The next two days had been spent listening to music and watching movies and cooking. Jack had made them a real Christmas dinner that they'd shared with Tosh while Gwen had her own dinner with Rhys and Owen ignored their invitation.

Ianto was well aware that he should be happy after having had two days of Jack's undivided attention, but he wasn't a fool. He knew that Jack hadn't really planned to spend Christmas with him, at least not all of it. But John Ellis's death had hit him hard and whenever a death did that, Jack wanted to receive proof that he was welcome somewhere, that someone who cared was still alive, that he could receive the physical comfort he needed somewhere safe. It had been that way after Estelle's death, after the rescue mission for Matthew had failed and now John Ellis. Jack had always come to him and Ianto had always welcomed him ... but something had changed now. Suddenly, Ianto had realized something, as if he was looking at himself from the outside ... and he'd felt pity. For himself. Even though their sexual relationship was casual for Jack, it wasn't to Ianto. It hadn't really bothered him before, unsure if he could really commit to anything at the moment no matter what he felt towards Jack anyway, but now ...

The door alarm startled him from his thoughts and he looked up from his position at the coffee machine in the kitchen niche, realizing that Jack's cup of coffee had probably been done already for quite a while. He sighed resignedly and poured the lukewarm coffee down the drain to start anew. While the machine started grinding away, his eyes found the cogwheel door and he was a bit surprised to see Owen stumble in this early. "Good morning," he said.

Owen's head turned in his direction, clearly startled. Even from all the way on the other side of the cavernous main Hub, Ianto could see that his face was pinched, a hang-over all too clear. Owen muttered something and crossed the distance to his and Tosh's desks to drop his bag beside his chair. He rummaged around his drawer, finally finding a pair of sunglasses he donned against the bright glare of the Hub's lights. "Coffee," he said hoarsely.

Ianto forced himself to reign in the barb that was just trying to escape, telling Owen off for being impolite. Owen had lost someone too, just like Jack. Ianto had allowed Jack to grieve in his own way and now he had to grant Owen the same favour. But Owen's grief was more destructive than Jack's and his angry sadness started to play havoc on Ianto's untrained empathy. He started to feel just as sick to the stomach, just as angry and sad. He made a mental note to call Archie later and set up an appointment for training. This would become dangerous soon. His empathy had never before affected him so much, but, as Jack had explained to him, once fully woken, it couldn't be put back in a box without proper training and Jack's strong feelings over the last few days hadn't helped.

With Owen and Jack's cups in his hands, Ianto crossed the main Hub. He set Owen's cup down on his desk and put a hand on his shoulder.

Owen just shrugged him off. "Leave me alone."

"You should go home," Ianto said softly.

Owen looked up at him, his sunglasses unable to hide that he'd been crying a lot. Ianto was surprised just how much Diane leaving seemed to have affected Owen. "Been home. There's nothing to do but drink and I can't find a girl willing to shag me and I'm not desperate enough to pay for it, yet, so work it is."

Ianto cleared his throat and said, "You reek of alcohol. If Jack smells it-"

"Fuck Jack," Owen answered angrily and then grinned bitterly. "Right, you're doing that already."

Whatever response Ianto would have found to the snide remark, it was interrupted by Jack's clipped voice. "Owen. My office." He remained standing in his office door for a moment longer, then went back inside, his movements silhouetted by the windows.

Owen pulled a face in his direction and Ianto felt a wave of resentment emanating from him. He closed his eyes and swallowed, taking back control and banning the emotion into the background. He had to be strong now, because if Jack and Owen argued, it would only get worse.

xxx

Jack knew this wouldn't be easy. He didn't want to send Owen home, knowing that work was a good therapist sometimes, but in this case, there was no other choice. As soon as Owen had entered the base, Jack had seen that he wasn't ready to return to duty. But Owen wouldn't accept that, maybe even hoping to start an argument to release some of his grief and anger.

Now, he saw Owen glare at Ianto before reluctantly following Jack's order and coming into his office. Jack had dimmed the lights and Owen reacted by taking off his sunglasses, accepting that Jack wanted to make eye contact. Jack awaited Owen from his chair behind his desk and he started talking without giving Owen a chance to, "You had two days to pull yourself together."

"You said I should come in today." Owen's voice was low, dangerously calm.

"I expected you to come back to work with a clear head."

Owen looked at him for a long moment, his hands turning to fists. "Two days," he finally said derisively. "What did you expect? Is that the time you need to get over the death of someone you …" He stopped and Jack saw him swallow. Apparently, Owen was unable to say it out loud, to admit to having loved Diane. Maybe he felt silly. He hadn't known her that long after all and falling in love on first sight was a romantic notion that wasn't accepted in this century - everybody longed for it but nobody believed in it.

Jack knew better. He'd known the second he'd seen Estelle, he'd known - but denied it - when Matthew had given him his very first shy smile, when Theresa had berated him for bumping into her at the store, when ... he'd known.

Jack took a deep breath, steeling his resolve. "No, I didn't expect you to shake it off just like that. But you should be able to show enough responsibility and call in, tell me that you need more time."

"I don't need time, Jack, I need to work."

"Not like this, you aren't." He got up and put his hands on his hips, coming around the desk. "Hung-over and tired, you could make a mistake if there's a medical emergency or if we're in the field. I won't risk the others because you can't admit that you're not ready yet."

"What are you going to do?" Owen asked with a scoff. "Fire me?"

"Suspend you, put you on medical leave … for your own good."

Rage hit Jack in the face like a slap. Owen's strong empathy had always played havoc on Jack's mild empathic tendencies, leading to many arguments between them. The anger now directed at Jack made his own irritation at the situation stronger. He took a deep breath, trying to reign himself in.

Owen didn't even seem to notice the shift in Jack's mood, unaware of his ability. "You can't put me on suspension for medical reasons. _I'm_ the medic."

Jack looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Owen, this is hard on you. I get that." He softened his voice. "She meant something to you."

Owen gripped the back of the chair he was leaning on, his knuckles turning white. "Don't you dare tell me how I feel!"

Jack looked at him, swallowed against Owen's pain clogging up his throat. "Go home."

"Make me."

"Don't tempt me."

Owen snorted. "I want to be here. You can't just ban me because my sad face makes you sad as well."

Jack gave a sigh and stepped closer. "Owen, I just want to help you."

Owen recoiled from him. "No, you don't. You want to get rid of me!"

"That's not true!"

"Really?"

"You're not the only one who lost someone dear to him, Owen!" Jack hadn't intended to bring up John. Their respective relationships to Diane and John could hardly be compared. But he was running out of arguments fast.

Owen's anger was building up again, Jack's hands balling into fists as well. Owen pointed one finger at him. "You can't exactly compare that. You didn't shag John." He smiled cruelly. "Even though … maybe you-"

"Enough, Owen!" Jack snapped. "Go home or I swear, I will force you and if you come back before I tell you to, I will retcon your scrawny ass back to kindergarten. Do we understand each other?"

"Just throw Retcon at the problem, why don't you, Jack?" Owen answered, just as loudly. His voice was breaking, though, and tears had gathered in his eyes. "Fuck you!"

Somewhere in the Hub, pottery was breaking but Jack refused to look out the window and make out the source of the noise.

Owen's intense gaze held him captive, demanding to be heard. "See if I come back at all!"

"See if I care!"

Owen stared at him as if Jack had slapped him and immediately, Jack felt sorry. "Owen-"

"Fuck you," Owen repeated, softer than before and left, slamming the door as loud as he possibly could. Jack saw him hurry past the workstations and down the short flight of stairs to the cogwheel door and slumped back on his desk. He uttered a curse and kicked the chair Owen had leaned on, gaining some satisfaction from watching it clatter to the floor.

Then he took a deep breath and left his office to look for Ianto.

xxx

Jack knew that it would be difficult to have two empaths on the team, especially considering that the abilities of both of them were very strong. But they were so different as well. While Ianto kept his emotions tightly to himself, projecting in gentle waves barely noticeable, Owen was a whirlwind, projecting strongly and sudden and with such force that you couldn't help but adopt his emotions as your own.

Ianto, once trained, would be better equipped for using his empathy in a positive way to support their work. Owen was too impulsive for that, so Jack had never told him about his ability. He'd always thought that it would be possible for Owen to live with his empathy unknowingly, but he was slowly coming to realize that there might be no way around him receiving some training.

Even just to make it easier on Ianto, who - as an empath - suffered most under Owen's onslaughts.

Jack shoved his hands in his trouser pockets and stopped in the kitchen niche, ceramic crunching under his shoe. Myfanwy gave a screech, chasing around the towering sculpture in the middle of the room and probably looking for fish in the pond beneath her. Usually, she was asleep during the day, waking up in the early evening. The noise must have woken her from her slumber and now she was in a mood. Jack glanced at her, then back down at Ianto. "You woke the pterodactyl, you get to feed her later," he tried a joke.

It fell flat, though.

Ianto looked up at him from his crouching position and then quickly averted his eyes again, continuing to pick up shards of mugs and plates. "I got angry."

Jack sighed and crouched down as well, folding his hands. "Owen projects strongly."

"I noticed," Ianto replied. "It wasn't just him, though."

Jack really hated to sound like a broken record, but he had to say it. "It was a mistake to start training on your own, without proper supervision. Now your mental abilities are off-kilter and you're not just able to identify emotions around you, you receive them and feel them without being able to shield yourself."

"I'm sorry, but ..." Ianto swallowed, brushed a hand through his dark hair. "I'm sorry. Don't be angry."

Jack let out a breath and tried to calm himself. "I'm not angry, I'm worried. You risk your own health and sanity doing stuff like that, Ianto. We had all the time in the world to get you to Torchwood Two for some training, now I will have to send you as soon as possible and with all the things going on with Torchwood Four and Owen, I really can't afford to spare you."

Ianto stared at Jack pleadingly. "I can do this. I can keep it under control."

Jack shook his head. "You think you do, but there's only so much emotion you can take before bubbling over and when you do, you'll project to everyone around you." He took Ianto's chin gently, looking him in the eye. "I've seen a whole army commit suicide because one empath couldn't take the war."

"Again," Ianto said, "I'm sorry, but it's done now."

Jack sighed deeply and nodded. Then he started to help Ianto collect shards. "I suspended Owen."

"I thought as much. He was angry, but also sad and ... disappointed."

"I know." Jack rubbed his forehead. "I know." He sighed deeply. "I'll probably have to get him some training as well."

They didn't speak while they collected the rest of the shards. Finally, they were done and Ianto straightened. "Would you like a coffee, sir?" He took a mug out of the coffee machine and frowned at it before pouring the coffee in it down the drain. "I'll make a fresh one."

"Thank you," Jack answered and leaned back against the kitchen counter. He watched Ianto work the machine, waiting until he stilled and watched the coffee fill the mug to take his chin again, tilting his head in his direction. "I probably didn't say it before but I had a wonderful time on Christmas." Ianto smiled and Jack swallowed, feeling his chest tighten painfully. He fought it down, seeing Ianto's eyes widen for just a second, and clamped down on the warm feeling inside him.

It was like watching the light fade in Ianto's blue eyes. He cleared his throat and turned away, wiping the counter. "You're welcome."

Jack crossed his arms, feeling guilty. He knew about Ianto's strong feelings for him and even though there was barely anything he'd rather do than act on it, he'd promised himself not to. Over the last few weeks, the feeling of soon being reunited with the Doctor had strengthened. Maybe it was wishful thinking but he didn't see himself able to honestly commit to a relationship with Ianto at the moment when it would end with hurting him. He cleared his throat. "Anyway … I'm sorry for hogging your time on Christmas. I hope you'll spend New Year's Eve with your family."

Ianto's face darkened and he answered, "Seeing that they don't know I'm even alive, I don't think I will."

Jack stared at him in disbelief. "You still haven't been to see them?"

"It's not that simple."

"Why not? They're your family. They think you're dead, Ianto."

"Jack," Ianto said, handing him his mug, "believe me: My sister prefers me to be."

With that, he walked past Jack, muttering something about a broom. Jack stared after him, dumbstruck. It had been months since Canary Wharf, months since Lisa died ... he wondered what could be bad enough to keep Ianto away from the only family he had left.


	3. Chapter 3

**2.**

There was something in the air that told Tosh things weren't going smoothly as soon as she entered the Hub together with Gwen. A certain mood hung heavy in the cavernous main room, filling it from the floor up to the high ceiling where Myfanwy was circling the towering sculpture. Tosh feared this didn't bode well for them. She glanced at Gwen who looked back at her and tucked her dark hair behind her ears in a nervous gesture. Clearly, she felt it too.

The first person they saw was Ianto, though, and he was doing what he always did around this time: puttering around the kitchen to prepare coffee for them. Jack was in his office, clear to see through the windows separating him from the main Hub and the team's workstations, talking on the phone.

Owen was nowhere to be seen.

Gwen smiled at Ianto when he handed her a mug. "Alright?" she asked.

"Alright," he answered and Tosh thought that he really did look alright. More rested and relaxed than he had in months, his blue eyes clear and warm, even though there was something on his mind. She'd already noticed a slight distraction in him on Christmas and wondered where it was coming from. Ianto folded his hands on his back. "And you?"

Gwen rolled her eyes. "I had to spend Christmas with Rhys's and my parents. Emma would have been a nice addition, really."

Curiously, Tosh asked, "Did you hear from her?" In the face of Diane and John being unable to cope with their time travel and the adjustment to the 21st century, Emma's easy acceptance of her situation had made it all worthwhile. Even though Tosh was sad about John's death and knew that Diane's flight back into the Rift might have ended with her dead, too, she was glad that at least one of them had found a purpose.

"Oh, she's doing fine," Gwen answered with a bright smile. "Apparently, her boss organized some flat she can live in until she finds something of her own ... and she spent Christmas watching the telly and surfing the internet. She seems to be adjusting just fine."

Ianto nodded. "That's one good ending at least."

Tosh looked towards Jack's office. "One out of three. How's Jack doing?"

"Good," Ianto answered. "He's still sad about John but … I think he worked through the worst of the grief. It hit him pretty hard."

Tosh thought that Ianto probably had a lot to do with Jack working through his grief. Christmas dinner had been enough time to see that Jack needed Ianto, if he admitted to it or not. They hadn't interacted like a couple in front of her, hadn't kissed or touched or exchanged more than friendly words, but they'd moved around each other with a certain ease that came from intimacy. There was no doubt in Tosh's mind that Jack had sought Ianto's presence to deal with John's death. And Ianto … Ianto was just good at taking care of people. What that meant for their personal relationship, she wasn't sure. And she knew that Ianto wasn't, either.

Gwen sipped her coffee. "Has anyone heard from Owen?" She didn't quite manage to make it sound casual and seemed to realize that, blushing and looking into her mug.

Tosh shook her head, wondering if Gwen felt jealous of Owen's relationship to Diane. Some small, mean part of her - jealous of Owen's affair with Gwen - wished she did.

Ianto nodded. "Jack suspended him this morning."

Gwen frowned. "Why?"

"He's not ready yet."

Tosh had a feeling that Ianto wasn't telling the whole story but she wouldn't push. She was worried about Owen. He always acted like he didn't care that much but he took things to heart.

Gwen's thoughts seemed to be similar. "I wonder if I should go and check on him."

"That's probably not a good idea," Ianto replied. "Owen's not good at dealing with things in a regular way."

"So what? We leave him alone?" Gwen asked, her green eyes narrowed in irritation. "He might need someone to look out for him."

"He's drinking," Ianto said. "A lot."

"All the more reason."

From behind them, Jack said, "It's best to leave him alone for a while."

Tosh startled so much that she almost spilled her coffee. For such a tall man, Jack was surprisingly light-footed.

"Maybe a day or two," he added with a sigh and shoved his hands in his trouser pockets, pulling the braces tighter over his chest. "Then I'll go over there myself." Gwen still looked sceptical, but Jack said, "Trust me. I know how to deal with Owen when he's like that. He needs to be angry at the moment and I don't think any of you should get in his way."

xxx

About half-way through dinner, Tosh realized that she didn't have Ianto's whole attention. He was staring out the window of the sushi restaurant they'd chosen, at the brightly lit restaurants and bars of Mermaid Quay one floor beneath them and the twinkling, far-away lights of Bristol on the other side of the channel. Tosh waited a moment to see if her silence would even register with him … but it didn't. It wasn't like Ianto to be inattentive and that worried her. Gently, she asked, "Are you alright?"

Ianto startled a bit and looked at her, his blue eyes showing embarrassment, and now she knew for sure that he hadn't heard a word she'd said.

She sighed and tucked a strand of hair that had come lose from her ponytail behind her ear. "I was telling you about my Christmas phone call to my mom."

Ianto shook his head as if to clear it. "Sorry, I was … distracted." He poked at his egg noodles and pulled a face. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Are you alright, though?"

He rubbed his forehead, brushed his hand through his dark hair and then sighed with a shake of his head. "Jack told me to spend New Year's with my family."

Tosh took a sip of her wine. "And you wanted to spend it with him?"

"No," Ianto said, then set aside his chopsticks and answered, "Well, I wouldn't say no if he asked, but that's not the problem."

"What is?"

He looked miserable. "My family."

Exasperated, Tosh set down her glass and sighed. "Ianto, let someone who has only limited contact to their family tell you what I think: I don't see why you're not able to talk to your sister."

"Because you don't know her."

"She can't be that bad. What's the matter between the two of you?"

Ianto avoided her eyes, let them flit around the restaurant. He looked like a sulking teenager right now and Tosh couldn't help but smile at the image. He rarely looked young and sometimes, it hurt to think that Torchwood had taken that from him. Ianto leaned back in his chair and finally, quietly said, "She doesn't understand me, Tosh." When he met her eyes again, her smile faded. He looked unbearably sad. "She never did."

Tosh nodded. She didn't have siblings, couldn't understand the connection, but she thought that she had some experience with difficult relationships in general. "Did you ever think about the possibility that maybe that goes both ways?"

Ianto looked away, out towards the bay.

Tosh propped her head up on one hand and watched him. "It's not like you to be so judgemental … or cruel."

He stared at her in disbelief. "How am I being cruel?"

"By letting them think that you're dead." She could see that had made the intentioned impact. He ducked his head. Taking his hand, she continued, "Listen, I talk to my family once a year. I can only send postcards the rest of the time. I haven't seen them in more than two years."

Ianto squeezed her hand. "You could, you know? Jack would find a way."

"UNIT would find out," Tosh replied. "And they're still breathing down his neck because of me, so I don't want to give them any leverage. I will probably miss my grandfather's 88th birthday, all of them will be there, but I do it to protect them and to protect Jack." She brushed her thumb over his knuckles. "You have a sister and a brother-in-law and a niece and nephew, Ianto, and you're missing out on so much … willingly. That's not like you."

Ianto shook his head. "The reason you can't see your family is that outside influences force you to. The reason I can't is because my family is the problem. When I'm with them, I can't be the person I am now, I have to be what I was back then and I hate that bloke. I don't want to be in one room with him but seeing my sister would force me to."

Sometimes, it frustrated Tosh, the way he danced around facts when he spoke about his youth. It had been bad, with his mother committing suicide in a mental hospital and his father apparently not caring much about his children, but … it was hard to help when he didn't talk about it. "Why can't you be like you want to be?"

Ianto shrugged. "Because my sister wouldn't like me very much."

"So it's about disappointing her?" Tosh sighed. "Listen, if you don't want to spend New Year's with your family, I'd be happy to spend it with you but, Ianto, think about it carefully. You might regret the decision to ignore them. You don't have to spend New Year's with them but … call your sister. I'm sure she will be happy."

xxx

Jack found her in the same run-down, seedy pub, at the same table, in the same dress he'd seen on her for the last century or so. He'd stopped counting how often he'd seen her. Often enough to know exactly what she would say when she'd see him. He stepped up to her table, tucked away in a corner of the smoky room, and sat on the chair opposite her. She looked up from her cards. "I expected you," she said, as always, looking at him from under her dark fringe. She wore her long hair in a ponytail today and was dressed in an antique-looking dress he'd expect in a Jane Austen novel.

"No big deal," he answered nonchalantly, as always. He gave a smile and added, "I come by every year since 2000." Because she'd told him a long time ago that he would see the Doctor again this century. Sometimes, he just felt the need confirm that still held true.

Her face showed a smile. She looked like a pretty little girl when she smiled, but Jack knew better. She was a seer: someone who could see through the veils of time and everywhere in space. Somehow, some time, she must have had close contact to vortex energy – the same kind of energy the Doctor's TARDIS used to travel through time – and it had changed her into this apparently immortal seer, forever destined to live in a child's body. Jack had met her several times since he was stranded on Earth in 1869. He felt she was his only real connection to the Doctor.

He accepted the beer the bartender set down in front of him and handed him a five pound note. "Keep the rest."

"Anything for you, lady?" the bartender asked.

The girl didn't look at him. "Whiskey."

He nodded and left to fetch it.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "I see they still don't care much about protecting youths from alcohol around here."

"That depends," she replied. "Maybe they don't perceive me as such." She never paid either, Jack had noticed several times. He always wondered why she was always here but then again, in a place like this, no questions were asked. It was quite possible that various aliens and time travellers frequented this pub, unbeknownst to the 21st century humans drinking their sorrows away here. A group of men laughed hoarsely about something in another corner. The seer's eyes flickered to look at them for a second, then back to Jack.

He took a sip of his beer and waited until the bartender had set down the seer's whiskey before he said, "This is the century you told me I would find the Doctor. Tell me if it's gonna be next year."

She smiled her secretive little smile and started to spread out her cards. Jack let her have her way. She didn't need the cards, he was sure, but apparently, she liked using them. "Is it going to be next year?" she repeated his question slowly. "That depends."

"On what?"

She tilted her head. "Whether you will be around when he comes."

"So he will come here next year?" Jack's heart skipped a beat and he felt sweat gather on his forehead, his hands starting to shake nervously. He took a gulp of his beer. "Well, then you can bet on me being around."

"If it was just you this depended on, yes. But it's a vague point in time, not fixed. You have a team and there is an evil lingering in the shadows and it will find you. All of you. It might stop you." She looked at him, not her cards when she added, "It already got to you. One of you is corrupted and it will be two before the year ends and then, during the first month, two more will be caught in an invisible net." She leaned forward, the wooden table creaking slightly under her weight. "Be careful, Jack Harkness: your team will be your downfall. Betrayal leads to danger leads to …" She looked down at her cards again. "Death." She sipped her whiskey.

Jack swallowed. He'd never been one to believe in destiny or predictions but this girl was the real deal, had been right more than once in the past. "Who will die?"

She smiled slightly, her fingertips running circles on the edge of her glass. "Who do you think?"

"I can't die."

"Are you sure?"

Jack stared at her. "What are you telling me? That I'll wait for a century and then die the same year the Doctor will arrive?"

She shook her head. "I'm telling you to be careful, because your enemy is closer than you think. In your base, in your team … in your bed."

Jack couldn't believe this. "They wouldn't. Ianto wouldn't."

"I don't see their names."

"And that means?"

"Maybe it means everything, maybe nothing at all."

Jack got up angrily. "Great, thanks for the help." He stomped out of the pub into the fresh air and breathed in deeply, trying to make sense of her words.

"I can't tell you what I can't see," the girl said and he whirled around, startled. She was standing leaning against the wall. "My visions have become inaccurate of late."

Jack stepped closer. "What do you mean?"

She looked up at him, her face half thrown in shadows by the weak light of the street lamps around them. "Something is disturbing time. There's someone here who is not supposed to be here." She stepped closer and whispered, "And it's not Torchwood Four."

Jack frowned. "I don't understand."

"There was a small disturbance a few months ago and it's getting bigger by the day. And in approximately three months, it will reach its peak. Everything in that time is just … blurry. Inconclusive. I can't see beyond that point and I can't identify the reason for the disturbance. I only know that the presence is powerful … but it shouldn't even exist."

"Could it be the Doctor?"

"I felt the Doctor come and go many times. This is not the same. He heals time … this hurts time."

Jack's interest was piqued. "Can't you see anything at all?"

She shook her head. "Just fragments." Tears welled up in her eyes. "There are fragments of pain and suffering …" She gasped and closed her eyes. "And so much death!" She swayed on her feet and Jack caught her, kneeling on the ground and holding her to him. Her hands formed fists in the wool of his coat and she was trembling.

Jack didn't think he'd ever seen her scared before and that worried him. "Try to see more. If there's a threat …"

"There's a threat. It's a threat to Earth and then the galaxy … the universe. The cancer spreads from here … and even the Daleks scream in terror."

Jack shuddered.

"He's coming," she whispered in his ear. "No, he's already here."

"Who?"

She leaned back and stared up at Jack. "Our master."


	4. Chapter 4

**3.**

Owen tossed the cap of the bottle towards his panorama window, watching it clink off the glass and drop to the carpeted floor. He sipped the whiskey and relished the way it burned down his throat while he looked outside at the city lying beneath him, the Christmas decorations in the windows and on the streets adding to the lights. People in their homes still caught up in the holidays and unnervingly ignorant of what was going on outside. Nobody wanted the Christmas cheer taken away by bad news. Owen could just imagine them sitting around their tables, sharing a meal and laughing, warmth and happiness surrounding them. He'd had that life, with Katie, and he was honest enough to admit that he missed it, at least to himself. In comparison, his flat and life seemed so devoid of anything meaningful besides work. He still lived with only Spartan furniture, his big beautiful flat nothing more than an empty space with only the necessities.

He'd intended to stay sober for today, told himself that he should prove to Jack that he was well able to work. In the end, boredom and grief had gotten the better of him last night, though, and he'd faced consequences for that.

"Screw you, Harkness," he muttered.

Someone like Jack, who shagged his way through trauma and grief with the nearest available body (and wasn't Ianto pathetic for providing his), shouldn't tell Owen how to deal. After all, if Jack had done his job better, Owen wouldn't even be here to give him grief. In the end, Jack was responsible for Katie's death as well. If he'd worked harder and faster, made the connection sooner, Katie could have survived. If he'd been better at his bloody job … Katie would still be with Owen and Owen would still be in London, probably climbing the ranks at the hospital by now. But that was Jack for you: taking control of your life and screwing with it. And sometimes, even screwing you.

Owen jumped when his mobile blared through the silence, announcing a call. He reached down and picked it up off the floor, slumping back in his chair's embrace while he squinted at the display. He'd thought it would be Jack – either about to add an insult or to be all parental and understanding, 'cause he thought he was so bloody wonderful – but it turned out to be worse. He picked up and immediately snarled, "I don't want to talk to you, Gwen."

"_You will have to talk to someone, Owen."_ Her voice was calm and understanding and he hated her.

"I'd rather go all weepy on Ianto than you right now, understand? I don't want to talk to any of you, feel free to let the others know that! I intend to listen to Jack and drink myself into oblivion."

There was a pause before Gwen softly said, _"Jack didn't tell you that." _

"What did he think I'd do all day? Seriously …" He snorted.

"_Owen, listen … I'm sorry about Diane. Just … let me come over. You can vent at me, yell even, I can take it. I just think … you need someone to listen." _

"I need someone to shag! And it's not you!" With that he hung up on her and rose to his feet unsteadily. "Someone to shag," he repeated. Someone he didn't know, someone who wouldn't pity him … he knew just the place to look.

xxx

Somehow, Ianto found himself back at the Hub after his dinner with Tosh. He felt a bit guilty about snapping at Jack this morning. It wasn't Jack's fault Ianto didn't feel up to see his sister. That he couldn't find the courage to just knock on her door. It wasn't that he was scared. He knew she would be thrilled that he was still alive and relieved that he'd found his way back. But it meant letting her back in his life and it was enough of a mess already.

The lights in the Hub were dimmed, Jack's office still brightly lit, but when Ianto stopped in the door, Jack wasn't sitting at his desk as expected. He also wasn't down in his bunker or the adjoining bathroom. His coat was hanging on the hook, though, so he had to be in.

Ianto went back into the main Hub and looked up at the high ceiling, seeing Myfanwy soar around the tower proudly. The windows of the boardroom one level up were switched off, so Jack wasn't in there, either. The hothouse on the other side of the metal catwalk was brightly lit, but no movement indicated Jack being in there.

Then Ianto's eyes found the doorway leading to the morgue and, listening to a hunch, he followed the short corridor and entered the room. The morgue was a big room, colder than the main Hub. In the middle, a circular hole in the floor housed the alien generator powering the cryogenic units in which Torchwood agents of several decades had found their last rest.

Jack was sitting at the opposite side of the room, leaning back against the wall that housed the cryogenic drawers hidden behind vintage metal doors. It was jarring, sometimes, how advanced elements collided with old-fashioned styles within the Hub. It always reminded Ianto of Jack himself, who was so out of his time, somehow belonging in the future as much as in the past.

Ianto put his hands in his coat pockets and crossed over the walkway spanning the generator well to stop in front of Jack, who was looking up at him, a glass of scotch in his hand and the bottle by his side.

Jack's shirt was open at the collar, the braces hanging down tiredly. "Hey," he said.

"Hi," Ianto replied.

"It's late."

Ianto shrugged. "You're drinking in the morgue." It was a statement as much as a question.

Jack just nodded, then he offered the glass to Ianto.

Ianto accepted it with a sigh and sat down next to him, taking a sip. "Sorry for snapping at you today." He leaned back against the drawers behind him, stretching out his legs to relax.

"It's alright," Jack replied. "I shouldn't have pushed." He looked at Ianto earnestly. "Just ... it's family. You should try to hold on to family. At least to the family that wants to have you in their lives."

Ianto sighed. "I know that you're right. I just ..." He took another sip, seeking courage. Opening up to Jack usually wasn't this hard but his youth was dangerous territory. He just didn't like to talk about it to anyone, trying to forget about it most of the time. "My sister wants me in her life, but there's just too much stuff between us for me to be able to play happy families. Our mom, our dad, just … too much."

Jack's hand closed around his. "Maybe it's time to deal with it, get it all out in the open."

"I'd have to stop running." Ianto stared into the glass. "I've always been kind of a coward in that regard."

"I find that hard to believe."

Ianto smiled sadly and looked up at Jack who had his head turned in Ianto's direction, his blue eyes tired and worried, but full of understanding. Ianto explained, "My sister and I … we ended up on different sides of a battle and ..." He shrugged. "It went on from there."

"You want to talk about it?" He was serious about it, too. Ianto liked Jack, the flirt and Jack, the caring boss and Jack, the lover, could make his blood boil. But Jack, the partner, the friend, the caretaker ... him, Ianto had fallen in love with.

He shook his head, though, not wanting to talk about it right now and especially not with what he came here to say on his mind. "No."

Jack nodded in understanding.

Ianto squeezed his hand and then let go, taking another sip and offering the glass back to Jack. "So," he said, "the morgue?"

Jack raised a hand and knocked on the drawer above his head. "Alex Hopkins."

"The ghost of Christmas past."

"So to say. Except it was New Year's but … well … kinda dragged down Christmas for me as well." He shook his head. "Went to see an acquaintance today and that made things worse and ..." He shook his head.

Ianto frowned. "What is it?"

"Prophecies coming true, maybe. Or just a seer losing her mind."

Ianto didn't quite understand, but Jack didn't give him a chance to ask, either. He just set down the glass and leaned in, kissing Ianto gently, his tongue pressing against Ianto's lips until they opened. Jack pulled him closer until the scotch bottle between them fell over, the glass scratching over the tiles. It brought Ianto back to his senses and he pulled away a bit. "Jack, we need to talk."

"I want to sleep with you," Jack whispered against Ianto's lips, while his hands started to loosen the knot on Ianto's tie.

"In the morgue?" Ianto asked, one eyebrow raised.

Jack chuckled hoarsely. "No … even I wouldn't do that."

"Good to know," Ianto whispered back.

"Is that a yes?" Jack asked, pecking Ianto's lips.

"I don't know. After that little meltdown today … I should probably avoid strong emotional situations. I could get carried away."

Jack shook his head and planted a few kisses as far down Ianto's neck as he could get with the shirt collar in the way, bestowing a light bite before he replied, "That didn't stop you on Christmas."

Ianto gently pushed Jack away. He brushed a hand through Jack's dark hair and cupped the back of his head to make sure Jack focussed on him. "I actually started thinking about this on Christmas."

He watched the realisation dawn in Jack's eyes and felt disappointment rolling off Jack that was quickly suppressed. Jack's thumb brushed Ianto's cheekbone gently. "We promised each other honesty in this."

"Which is why I know that you'll leave with the Doctor, either tomorrow or in fifty years. Which is why we agreed not to let this become a serious relationship." He swallowed and sat back a bit. "What happened this morning wasn't the first time. It already happened on Christmas. I lost control and I don't want to have that happen again."

"Okay, but you already told me a long time ago how you feel about me. You won't project something I don't already know. You know that you're safe with me, Ianto, I don't mind."

Ianto closed his eyes. "But I do."

For a moment, it was quiet, then Jack pulled away and said angrily, "This is exactly what I warned you of. I asked you if you would be able to handle projecting your own emotions, be vulnerable, and you told me that you could."

"I can!" Ianto answered. "That isn't what this is about!"

"What is it about then?"

"I don't have a problem with my emotions. I was prepared for that," Ianto replied and stood up. "I have a problem with yours."

Jack got up and grabbed his hand, pulling him closer. "You know how I feel about you."

"You like me. You respect me."

"It was enough all this time."

"It was enough as long as I didn't feel it." He cupped Jack's cheek. "It took me a long time not to be ashamed of my feelings for you, because of Lisa and everything ... but I'm not anymore. I wasn't … until Christmas. I looked at myself with your eyes and … I felt pathetic. Christmas was Christmas. You needed it, so it was okay. I like taking care of you. But now I have to take care of myself."

He started to leave, but Jack's voice made him stop. "So, this is over?"

Ianto turned around to him. "Yeah … for now, it is."

Jack nodded slowly. "Tell me you're still my friend, though."

Ianto was taken aback for a moment at how very sad Jack felt ... and at the fact that he admitted to it. He stepped closer again and gently kissed his lips. "There's nothing that could ever stop me to be," he promised.

Jack put his arms around him and pulled him in close. "Promise."

"Jack, what's wrong?" Ianto pushed him back a bit to be able to look into his eyes. "You're acting weird. You will never have to doubt my loyalty to you."

"Even if a seer says I should?"

Ianto stared at him, at a loss.

Jack explained, "Alex saw something coming when he shot the 1999 team. Something dark. He never got to say what it was because he shot himself. And now I have reason to believe that it's coming."

"Reason to believe?"

"There's this seer I sometimes visit. She said something to me that ... it worried me."

"Okay," Ianto said. "What did she tell you?"

"I can't make sense of it, really," Jack answered.

"You don't want to tell me, you mean."

Jack looked at him apologetically. "Not until I can at least guess at what it means."

Ianto sighed. "Alright." He trusted Jack completely, as frustrating as it sometimes was.

"Go home," Jack said, "get some sleep. I'll be alright."

Ianto had no other choice but to nod slowly. "Okay. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Ianto."

At the door, Ianto turned back once more and saw Jack lean against the drawers, his fingers tapping against Alex's drawer thoughtfully.

xxx

The music was loud, the beat banging around the room like thunder. The lights flashing like lightening. People crowded in groups, laughing, talking loudly over the music.

Owen didn't feel so good. He gulped down another glass of tequila and coughed slightly. He cleared his throat. Then he turned back to the girl he'd been chatting up, just to realize that she was gone.

"Left five minutes ago, dude," the bartender said. He grinned at him with bleached teeth and just as bleached hair. Like a surfer boy who'd lost his way to Miami and had landed in Cardiff, somehow. Maybe he was an alien. Owen had to chuckle about that, until he remembered how lost Diane had been … he brushed a hand through his short hair, thinking about going home. It didn't seem as if he would have any luck tonight. Just confirming what he'd already known ...

He slid from the bar chair and grabbed his leather jacket, turning to the door … and running straight into the fist of a bloke. Owen stumbled backwards and to the floor. Several people cried out in surprise, some started to laugh and the bartender raised his voice to be heard over the noise. "None of that in here! Take it outside!"

The bloke didn't seem to think so. He grabbed Owen and pinned him against the bar, his dark eyes almost black in the flash of the lights. "You bastard!"

"Harvey!" A pretty, blonde woman was tugging on his arm. "Harvey, leave him alone!"

He pushed her away. "Shut up, Molly! I'll handle this!"

Owen's brain finally caught up with the situation and he pushed the bloke away, landing a right hook that made him stumble.

"Stop it!" the bartender yelled. "I called the police!"

Owen didn't care. Harvey attacking him was the perfect opportunity to let off some steam. He came at him and hit him several times, rearing back and taking a table with him when Harvey landed a right hook himself. Molly was yelling at Harvey to leave it, telling Owen to stop, demanding a group of blokes watching the scene with amusement to help her break them apart. They just laughed. Owen shook his head to clear it and wanted to get up, but Harvey was on him, kicking him in the ribs. "Bastard, is that how you get your action, you creep?!"

Owen had no idea what the bloke was talking about and he didn't care much. He just reacted. The next minutes were a blur of motion, pain and the satisfaction of scoring some hits before, suddenly, he was pulled away.

An unfamiliar, male voice was yelling at him, hands holding him in an iron grip. "Stop it! Stop it now!" A PC was pinning him to the wall. Owen pushed him away, trying to get back to the bloke, who didn't seem too fond of being pulled away by another PC either. But before they could reach each other, they were forced to the floor and handcuffed. "Enough!" the PC having a hold of Owen grunted.

"I'm Torchwood," Owen said indignantly, struggling against the handcuffs. "Let me go. I'm a Torchwood agent!"

"You're a drunk!" the PC answered, pulling him up. "You're spending the night at the precinct."

"He attacked me!" Owen complained while he was led outside. The cold air hit him in the face like a slap and he felt more sober now. He struggled, looked at Harvey who was being led to another police car, Molly on his heels. Owen cursed. "I didn't even do anything!"

"You didn't do anything?" Harvey asked in disbelief while the PC having a hold of him tried to force him into the car.

Molly put an appeasing hand on his arm. "Just leave it, Harvey."

He shook her off. "I won't leave it, he bloody raped you!"

Owen stopped dead in his struggles. "I did what?"

"Don't act so innocent, sicko!" Harvey answered. "You raped my girlfriend!"


	5. Chapter 5

**4.**

Jack didn't know how long he stood there, staring at Alex's drawer, when his mobile announced a text. He startled and blinked, then hastily pulled it out of his pocket. "Come on, come on …," he muttered. He'd been waiting for a text for three days and maybe this … his shoulders sagged when he read the answer he'd been dreading.

_I'm sorry but I can't do this, dad. Maybe next year. Thanks for the present for Steven, though. _

Jack closed his eyes. "Alice," he whispered. He rubbed his eyes against unbidden tears and shook his head. "Damn!" This shouldn't hurt so much, really, after everything that had happened between him and Alice's mother, between him and Alice. He'd never been able to handle Lucia's sudden disappearance that cost him to lose contact with his daughter. But having found her a few years ago, learning he had a grandson he had never really gotten to know, seeing her hold back like this, almost afraid of him ... that hurt even more. So much that sometimes, he almost wished he'd never found her. Alice knew about his immortality. Apparently, Lucia had told her and quite possibly used it to spin a dark story about Jack. He felt he was slowly making progress, writing texts and e-mails and sending presents for birthdays and holidays ... but Alice still refused to let him into their life properly. To Steven, he was an uncle with a job that left him no time for family. He accepted that, reluctantly, knowing she needed to dictate the speed of a possible reunion herself.

He startled when his mobile started to ring. With a frown, he looked at the unknown number and answered, "Harkness."

A crisp, male voice answered him. _"Captain Harkness, this PC Bevan from Cardiff PD. We have one of yours in our cell."_ There was an underlying disapproval in his tone that caused Jack to frown. He started walking back to the main Hub. He could already imagine who the police would have arrested, even before Bevan continued, _"The name's Owen Harper. He wants to be let out 'right now'."_

Jack sighed. "I'm on my way." He hung up and stopped in the middle of the main Hub, taking a deep breath. He really didn't want to be dealing with Owen right now, but he'd also feel bad about letting him rot in the cell overnight. Being a Torchwood agent had certain perks. Leaving a cell as soon as Jack said so was one of them. Owen had used this advantage several times already just after he'd started at Torchwood, grief-stricken by Katie's death. Until Jack had put a stop to it. He'd hoped it would never happen again, apparently in vain.

Continuing to his office, Jack cursed softly. This wasn't a good day. Suspending Owen, Alex's deed weighing him down, Ianto's decision to end their sexual relationship and Alice's rejection … and now this.

And then his phone rang. Jack groaned and picked up. "Harkness."

"_Jack, this is Captain Stephen Nowak."_

Jack sighed. Their UNIT liaison. The last thing he needed right now was UNIT on their backs for something, but Stephen had been a big help in the past – always speaking for Torchwood rather than against it – and he didn't want to turn him down. "What can I do for you?"

Stephen sounded solemn when he said, _"It's not so much something you can do for me. More something I can do for you. And that is utter a warning." _

"A warning?" Jack asked. "From what?"

"_Someone at UNIT wants to earn a promotion and decided to deal with things that involve you."_

Jack sank into his chair. "How do you mean?"

"_They reopened the Torchwood One case. Jack ..."_ Stephen paused for a moment as if he was looking for a tactful way to say this. _"They found CCTV of someone dragging a Cyberman out of the building." _

Jack froze as his heart skipped a beat. "Do they know ..." He cleared his throat. "Do they know who it is?"

"_No, the footage is bad."_ Stephen sighed while Jack closed his eyes in relief. _"But they're working on it. Could be that they'll find out. At least, that would get them off your backs."_

Jack shook his head. He knew it would cause the opposite but Stephen didn't need to know that.

Stephen continued, _"I'm giving you a fair warning here. Could be they'll confront you just because you're Torchwood, too."_ He sighed. _"One thing's for sure. This means trouble."_

Jack leaned back in his chair. "Tell me everything you know."

xxx

The street lamps were painting orange, blurry circles on Ianto's bedroom curtains. The window was tilted and the cold December breeze moved the fabric, creating a hypnotic view. Ianto stared at them, sitting upright in his darkened bedroom, leaning back against the headboard.

There was no reason not to sleep. Officially, there wasn't. But his mind couldn't stop running around his talk with Jack. The obvious hurt and the desperate words he hadn't expected.

His and Jack's sexual relationship had been based on the need to find a release in a stressful time. It wasn't Jack's fault that Ianto had fallen in love and it wasn't Jack's fault that he hadn't. And it was just like Jack to accept the end of their affair. Ianto couldn't be angry, either, because it had been obvious how much their friendship meant to Jack. As far as Ianto was concerned, it was still there and undamaged. Jack had to know that, too. It was disconcerting that he didn't, obviously. Did that mean that Jack didn't trust Ianto?

His mobile startled him out of his thoughts. He grabbed it from the night table and answered immediately when he saw Jack's name, "Sir?"

"_I need you to do me a favour,"_ Jack answered.

xxx

"Ianto," PC Connor Bevan said in mild surprise when he saw him. He straightened in his seat behind the counter of the part of the precinct that housed the cells. He looked a bit tired, his shift almost over maybe, and the bleak atmosphere and harsh neon lights didn't do anything to make his handsome face look enthusiastic about his job. "Once again cleaning up after your own?"

"Someone has to do it," Ianto answered and stopped at the counter, waiting for Connor to get the papers ready. He'd done this before, got Jack out once after a misunderstanding with a too-eager young PC and Owen after a pub fight that had been started by an alien as a distraction. Once or twice, he'd met Connor by coincidence at a scene and Ianto had put him on a short-list of possible recruitment candidates for the future months ago.

Connor raised an eyebrow and pushed his cap back, unruly blond hair peeking out from underneath. "You look like hell. Does Harkness let you sleep?"

"Every once in a while," Ianto answered with a smile. He signed what Connor handed him.

"He's pretty drunk. Are you sure you don't want to let him stew here for a little while?" Connor looked angry, somehow, at the idea of letting Owen out.

"Absolutely," Ianto answered, handing the papers back.

Connor rose from his chair and grabbed the keys. "I know I would. There are some pretty hard accusation against him." He walked down the corridor housing the cells and Ianto followed him.

"What kind of accusations?" he asked.

Connor slid the key into the lock and turned it. "The kind that might cost one their career." He opened the door.

Owen was sitting on the bunk of the plain, tiled room, staring at the floor, but he looked up as soon as the door was open and cursed. "Oh, this is just great!" he slurred. He glared at Connor. "I asked for Jack Harkness, you git."

Ianto raised an eyebrow. "Jack's indisposed."

"At this time of night?" Owen asked and gave a smirk. "Shagging someone else but you?"

Ianto took a deep breath and forced down the bitterness radiating off Owen. "Do you want to get out of here or wait for Jack to find the time and come by?"

"I wanna get out," Owen said, glaring at Connor again. "Shouldn't have been here in the first place."

Connor crossed his arms and snorted. "I have a slightly different opinion on that."

"Oh, yes, I noticed that. Aren't you going to ask me if I want to press charges against the arsehole that attacked me?"

Connor's glare darkened. "I think you're lucky nobody's pressing charges against you … of any kind."

Ianto felt Owen's anger intensify and then – suddenly – wilt away. His eyes flickered to Ianto and then to the floor. He stormed past them, pushing Ianto out of the way as he went.

Connor handed Ianto Owen's car keys and wallet. "Tell Harkness to watch that one closely," he said softly. "Torchwood doesn't make you immune against everything."

With that, he turned away and left Ianto standing there, wondering, until Owen's irritated voice drifted to him from the reception room. "Are you driving me home or what?"

Ianto sighed deeply and followed him.

xxx

"What happened?" Ianto asked and started the car.

"I had a drink. Someone took exception," Owen answered and turned on the radio. Ianto winced at the volume and turned it down a bit. Owen snorted and crossed his arms, throwing himself back into the seat and giving off a wave of disgust and impatience.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did he take exception?"

"That's none of your business." Owen turned the volume up again.

Ianto patiently turned it down and stopped at a red light. "Jack will ask. If you tell me, you won't have to tell him."

Owen cursed and Ianto focused on driving, on the street and the people on the sidewalks even at this late hour. He had to shift his concentration that way to escape all the sorrow and anger from beside him, the feeling of irritation that Jack had sent him to do the dirty work.

He reminded himself that it was Owen's anger making him feel that way and unclenched his hands from around the steering wheel, making an effort to relax. "Why did you get arrested?"

"'Cause he attacked me."

"And why would he do that?"

Owen's answer was nothing short of a sulk. "'Cause he's an idiot."

"Owen ..." Ianto was tired. It was as much his own exhaustion as Owen's that he was feeling and he didn't think he was up to it for much longer.

"'Cause his bloody girlfriend slept with me, and because he can't take that, he's crying rape."

Ianto swallowed, pieces of a puzzle falling into place and, God … Jack would be so mad. "Why would he do that?"

"How the fuck should I know?"

Ianto forced himself to remain calm. "Maybe because you handed in a flask of aphrodisiac a few months back that you kept at home against regulations?" He saw Owen go rigid in the passenger seat out of the corner of his eyes and tightened his grip on the wheel in response to the rising tension. "Maybe because it was not entirely consen-"

"I never …," Owen said loudly, swallowed and then punched the passenger side door in frustration. "I didn't rape her!"

"Are you sure it was consensual?"

"Did you _see_ her boyfriend?"

"Owen!"

"We had fun! She was enjoying it, believe me. She probably didn't have that good sex ever since she got together with that stupid twat!"

Ianto braked sharply in front of Owen's flat. "Did she consent to have sex with you before or after you used the aphrodisiac on her?"

"Why do you need to know?"

"Because it's a breach, Owen! It's a breach the size of the gauntlet and the knife was! It's alien technology used away from the Hub for selfish reasons!" He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "You know that I have to tell Jack." He turned to Owen, but before he could continue, a fist landed square in his eye and he might have blacked out for just a second or two, because the next thing he knew was seeing Owen running for the house. Ianto cursed and balled his hand to a fist, pushing against his eye. He took deep breaths, forced himself to calm down and breathe … then he got out of the car and followed Owen inside with his emergency key.

He gained entry into Owen's flat and found all the lights on and Owen in his bed, passed out. Ianto sighed and rubbed his forehead.

He pulled his mobile from his pocket and dialled, knowing that Jack wouldn't be happy about any of this.

xxx

Gwen couldn't sleep.

That in itself didn't happen all too often. She was somebody who worked through problems during sleep and woke with a solution or at least a possible way out. But tonight, she really couldn't sleep.

Thoughtfully, she stared out the window of their darkened living room, watching their street. In the background, from the bedroom, she could hear Rhys snoring and she sighed deeply, tapping one finger against the mobile in her hand. She was worried about Owen. Diane leaving had hit him harder than she thought it would. Sure, she knew they'd spent a lot of time together – and some small part of her wondered if it had been more than what her and Owen shared, more than a shag – but they'd only known each other for a very short time before Diane left. Gwen felt at a loss. She wanted to help him, but she didn't quite know how … she stared at her mobile and then absently typed a text.

_You really can talk to me._

She hesitated, her finger hovering over the send button.

And she wondered: It was good, wasn't it, that it seemed to come to an end between her and Owen? After all, Rhys was too good a man to be cheating on and what she had with Owen was entirely empty anyway. Just sex. Why hold on to it?

Finally, she deleted the message.


	6. Chapter 6

**5.**

Jack let himself inside Owen's flat with his key and found Ianto at the kitchen table, nursing a tea and a black eye. Jack grimaced and took Ianto's chin, gently turning his face into the bright light to be able to see the bruise properly. "He did that?"

"He didn't know what he was doing," Ianto answered tiredly. "I provoked him."

Jack shook his head in disbelief. "Doing what?"

Ianto seemed to think about a suitable answer but came up empty.

Jack rubbed his forehead and slumped into the other chair provided. This night seemed to never end. He'd been on the phone for a very long time with Stephen, and then he'd tried to get any information on the investigation through his other contacts at UNIT, finally giving in and going directly to the Colonel in charge of the matter.

Who'd refused him.

He had no idea if Ianto was in any danger to be found out or not. And then this whole thing with Owen. And John Ellis's death still wouldn't leave him alone, the loneliness fighting for dominance, with Alex's dying words and the girl's prophecy doing the rest. This really was the wrong time for all this.

He stroked his thumb along the reddened skin around Ianto's eye and took a deep breath, steeling his resolve. He would take back control over every single issue cropping up, starting now. "That's it."

"Jack … it's not a big deal," Ianto tried to reason with him.

Jack shook his head. "This can't keep going on, Ianto. You know that and I know that."

From the kitchen door, Owen asked, "Well, if everyone but me knows, why don't you tell me?" He stepped into the kitchen with a face that screamed 'hang-over'. Switching on the coffee machine, he stared at Ianto's tea. "Please feel at home," he added snidely.

Jack got up and squared his shoulders. "Ianto told me."

He saw Owen freeze, for just a second, then he snorted. "'Course he did." He glanced at Ianto. "Wanker. Vying for my job? Wanna be 2IC, yeah? Is shagging Jack not enough to get the position?"

Jack only saw it because he was looking for it. The way Ianto's jaw tensed and his hands trembled, his fingers slowly balling into fists. And he really didn't need this right now. "Ianto, leave."

"I'm fine, sir."

"You're not!" Jack snapped, staring at him, feeling rage build. "You're projecting what you're receiving, Ianto, and that's no help right now. Not for me, not for Owen. So, leave. I'll see you tomorrow."

Ianto got up stiffly and Jack saw him grind his teeth, obviously stopping himself from an answer born of Owen's anger.

Then he left without another word, slamming the door.

Owen chuckled bitterly. "Such a submissive little lapdog."

Jack grabbed him by his shirt and pinned him against his fridge, taking satisfaction in the way Owen grimaced in pain and whatever was inside rattled. "I told you once: Don't you ever disrespect any other member of our team again. You're lucky that I'm bone tired tonight. I really don't have the energy to deal with your shit right now, Owen." He let him go and turned away. He received Owen's anger and wrestled it down as good as possible. It was lucky that Owen was untrained and unaware of his empathy or this confrontation would well be able to result in one of them bleeding all over the floor. He straightened his shoulders and turned back around. "Somebody has to, though. Rape?"

Owen flinched as if the word had hurt him. "She didn't file anything."

"That doesn't change the fact that the word is out there, Owen, and connected to a Torchwood agent. Do you have any idea what that could mean for us?"

"Nothing, if we take a bit of Retcon and make everyone involved forget."

"That easy, yes?" Jack asked. "After the way you judged my use of Retcon yesterday? Maybe next time, you just follow through with it, do the deed, and then retcon her!"

"How dare you?" Owen asked angrily. "I would never do something like that!"

"I know!" Jack replied angrily. "But you've walked the tightrope with this one, Owen. Aphrodisiac is nothing to play around with and now someone knows! Someone _knows_ what you did, even though the specifics are somewhat blurry, there's still an accusation against one of my people and you just wait until the Prime Minister hears about this. Do you have any idea what that could mean? We could lose _everything_!" He took a deep breath, trying to reign himself in. So far, he'd only told Ianto that the Prime Minister intended to shut Torchwood down. It wouldn't do to alert the others. Not while they still had an ace up their sleeves, as weird as Harold Saxon's offer to fund Torchwood should he become Prime Minister was. Jack put his hands on his hips. "Never mind the fact that you acted selfishly and in a morally very grey area."

"Cut the crap, Jack!" Owen answered and poured himself a mug of coffee. "You're not my fucking father."

"No, but somehow I'm the one who has to bail you out, who has to stand there and take responsibility that this will never happen again. There's my name involved in this as well, Owen!" He took a deep breath, calming down. "Right. You're out. Suspended until further notice."

"That's nothing new."

"And I'm taking it away from you – you're not my 2IC any longer, Owen. I need someone I can rely on."

"Like Ianto?"

"Ianto's not going to get that job, Owen, you know that just as well as I do. So there's no reason at all for you to hate him so much." He walked towards the door. "Three weeks," he said. "Three weeks to decide whether you still want to be part of this or not. Three weeks, Owen. We'll call you in, should there be an emergency, but other than that, you're out of the loop." Sadly, he added, "I want to give you more chances. I know what you went through, I know what Diane's loss did to you – again – but I have to think of the others too. And I can't send them into the field with someone I can't trust."

With that he left the flat and closed the door, listening to the coffee mug shattering against the wood.

xxx

"What is going on here?" Gwen asked when Jack left his office the next morning and entered the main Hub. Tosh looked up from her computer and over at Jack, curious about the answer to that question as well. Ianto had remained unusually tight-lipped about his black eye and the broody mood Jack seemed to be in. It was almost eleven and Jack hadn't even left his office to say good morning to Gwen and Tosh. And he'd been on the phone the whole time, all tense shoulders and irritated gestures as far as Tosh had been able to see through the windows. And, the strangest thing, even Ianto had been banned from going in.

Now, Jack looked tired and annoyed, his lips narrowed to a thin line and the dark eyebrows pulled together in a frown. "I prolonged Owen's suspension."

Gwen crossed her arms. "How long for?"

"'Til I say he can come back." Jack accepted a mug of coffee Ianto handed him, eyeing the black eye critically. Ianto gave him a small smile and then handed out coffees to Gwen and Tosh as well. "Also," Jack said, "he's no longer my 2IC. There's been no decision as of yet who will get the job."

Tosh looked at Gwen. She knew Jack would give the position to her and she was glad. She didn't want to be the one giving orders in Jack's absence. He knew that just as well as she did.

Jack went back into his office and closed the door … and then the blinds.

"Is he alright?" Gwen asked no-one in particular.

Ianto took the question. "Something's on his mind. Something other than Owen." He looked a little forlorn with the empty tray in his hand.

"Should I go and talk to him?" Gwen asked. She sounded timid and Tosh could relate. Everything about Jack's demeanour screamed 'leave me alone' and it was better to heed that warning if at all possible.

"No," Ianto answered decisively.

Gwen sighed and cradled her mug. "I just feel like something is off."

"Yes. Something is." With that, he turned and walked away.

Gwen stepped closer to Tosh. "I have a weird feeling," she said softly, "like everything's about to get worse."

Tosh took a deep breath and sipped her coffee. "Yeah," she agreed. She wondered what Torchwood Four was getting up to, of course, but there was more. Not just Owen's suspension or Ianto's empathy going wrong or Jack's new secret.

Something deeper was slowly coming apart at the seams and Tosh feared that something was the team itself.

xxx

Gwen stared at her mobile. Yet another row with Rhys had reached its peak this morning and was still not leaving her alone. Something to do with the washing or the dish washer … she wasn't even sure anymore. She just knew that he was angry with her being preoccupied, assuming her job was what was running through her mind, and she felt guilty that it wasn't her job but Owen. He shouldn't matter that much, shouldn't intrude into her and Rhys's lives like this, but he did. And that scared her.

The text she'd written to Rhys over an hour ago was still unanswered. She knew he probably had to work, but still … it made her sad, somehow. As if this was the beginning of the end.

"Can I get you anything?" Ianto asked.

Startled, Gwen looked up at him and then threw him a weak smile. "No." She put her mobile on her desk and made a conscious effort to shove the sadness away, but it lingered. "Thank you, Ianto." It took her a moment to realize that he was staring at her and, horrified, she realized suddenly that she was crying. Quickly, she wiped her cheeks but the damage was done.

Ianto stepped closer to her desk and softly asked, "Gwen?"

"I'm okay." She laughed helplessly, wiped her cheeks again and cleared her throat. "I'm just … sad."

Ianto swallowed visibly and ducked his head. Gwen felt embarrassed and made a conscious effort to calm down. A glance at Tosh at her desk some distance away assured her that her breakdown was just between her and Ianto. Sometimes, it paid off to have her desk a bit away from the others in a corner of the main Hub.

Gwen rolled her eyes at herself. She had never thought that it would be that bad, that she would lose control over her emotions this easily. Usually, she was pretty good at keeping domestic problems away from Torchwood, it was just … she paused when an idea struck her.

And looked up at Ianto.

He said, "I'm sorry."

Gwen stared at him. "Why … why are you so sad?"

"It doesn't matter. It's private." He smiled fleetingly. "I'm going to head up to the tourist office for a little while, yeah?" He turned and strode towards the cogwheel door, leaving the main Hub hurriedly.

Gwen stared after him, a bit shaken.

Tosh left her workstation and joined Gwen with her arms crossed. Gwen shook her head and wiped the last tears away. She felt better, if still a bit sad about Rhys and the situation with Owen. But in a more normal way. She was stunned at what she'd just experienced. It wasn't the first time Ianto had projected emotion, but this had been far stronger than before and a bit alarming, as Gwen had to wonder why he felt that way. Tosh was clearly affected as well. She looked grim and a bit tired, her hair in an untidy knot. At least, Gwen thought with another flash of embarrassment, she hadn't lost it like herself. "Why am I the only one crying?" she asked.

"Ianto said once that you were the easiest to … feel. 'Cause you're so open," Tosh answered. "Maybe you're the easiest to project on as well."

Gwen leaned back in her chair with a sigh. "Great."

"I'm going to talk to him. Make sure he's okay."

Tosh turned away to follow Ianto but Gwen stopped her with a hand on her arm. "I thought he would only be influenced like that by strong emotions, that he only projects if they're running high, like during a fight."

Tosh nodded. "Yes. It must be getting worse." With that, she left.

Gwen looked after her thoughtfully, then at Jack's office. The blinds were closed, signalling that he either wanted to be alone or was having a confidential conversation they weren't supposed to hear. Nevertheless, it had been like that all morning and this was important, so Gwen got up, wiped her hands on her jeans and strode over to Jack's office. She knocked softly and entered cautiously, peeking into the room.

He was sitting at his desk, not on the phone or working on his computer. Not even reading a file. He just sat there, one hand propping up his chin, half his office in shadows because of the weak light of the desk lamp … and he looked sad and worried and very tired. "I know," he said before she could tell him what had just happened. "I was going to call Archie in a minute."

She entered fully and crossed her arms. "I remember you saying that before and yet, you didn't."

"I was busy."

Gwen shook her head in annoyance. "And Ianto suffers from that. We all do. He started projecting emotions all the time, not just when they're running high, and that happened over night, Jack! How much worse can it get?"

"I will call Archie."

"When?"

He glared at her. "When I think the time is right!"

"The time is right now!"

"I can't let him go to Scotland right now!" Jack stared at her determinedly. And there was something in his eyes … "I can't let him out of my sight at the moment, Gwen. I need to be close, just in case ..." He faltered and shook his head.

Gwen, though, now knew that something was up. "What are you not telling us? What is it this time, Jack?"

He bit his lip and then he waved her closer. She stepped around the desk while he turned to his computer and made space for her to look at the screen. He started a video file: A man dragging something through a corridor, bodies lying motionless on the floor, smoke wafting in from somewhere ... and then Gwen recognized Lisa and thus, Ianto. "Oh, my God."

"UNIT has that video footage," Jack said, "and it's only a matter of time before they'll know who he is. And then they will come." He leaned back in his chair. "It's a good thing we've got a friend there. Nowak will let us know when they'll come, so that I'll have time to get Ianto to safety."

"Where to?"

"Down here. My base, my rules." He rubbed his eyes and suddenly, Gwen knew why he looked so tired. He'd taken a long time to get over Ianto's betrayal - they all had - but since then, the both of them had become very close. Sometimes, she even wondered if Owen wasn't right and they were sleeping together. Whatever there was between them, Jack was deeply concerned now ... and that in turn made Gwen worry only more. Jack sighed. "We'll have time to think of a solution. I'm just hoping, at the moment, to find one before that happens."

Gwen swallowed. "Does he know?"

Jack looked at her and she knew the answer.

Shaking her head, she said, "This won't work, Jack. We can't wait with that training any longer. He just made me cry, his projection was so strong. And now, I'm worried about him because he's obviously not doing well."

"I know he's not. He's feeling so much at the moment. It's overwhelming him and sometimes, he can't differ which are his emotions and which are ..." He paused and looked almost startled.

"Jack?" Gwen asked, slightly alarmed.

He blinked, as if pulling himself out of a train of thought, and looked up at her. "What?"

She frowned. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing. I … nothing. I just realized something, is all." He stopped the footage. Part of him was still distracted, she could tell. Still mulling over what he apparently had just noticed.

Gwen knew it wouldn't help to ask him about it. He wouldn't give her an answer. So she turned back to the matter at hand. "What are we going to do about UNIT?"

Jack sighed. "Not much we can do."

"Tell Ianto?"

Jack seemed to hesitant for a moment, then he nodded reluctantly. "I'm going to talk to him tonight."

Gwen squeezed his shoulder. "Okay."

"Don't tell the others," Jack asked.

"Not today," she replied, feeling that was all she could promise him. There had been too many secrets within the team already.

xxx

"_Lizzie ..." _

_Fear … run! Run, run, run, you stupid girl!_

"_Lizzie Lewis ..."_

_His breath reeked of licorice and his eyes were cold, so very cold, his hands everywhere, touching skin, ripping clothes … hurting, it hurt so much … _

Owen gasped awake, sat up and the nausea hit him. He barely managed to get into the bathroom in time before he threw up. He pressed his sweaty forehead against the cool porcelain, squeezing his eyes shut. "That's not me," he whispered. "That's not me. I'm not like that." He shook his head. "I didn't do this. I'm not like that."


	7. Chapter 7

**6.**

"Ianto?" Tosh asked softly, causing him to look up from the parcel he was opening carefully. It didn't seem to matter to him that the tourist office was just a cover for Torchwood, Ianto always kept it up to date and managed to sneak in at least two hours a day of office hours.

He gave her a pleasant smile. "What can I do for you?"

"I should ask you that," Tosh answered and stepped closer. She peaked into the parcel and took one of the flyers for the castle out, studying the picture on the front before looking at Ianto again. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He stared at her for a long moment, then he said softly, "I broke things off with Jack."

Tosh's eyes widened in surprise. "Seriously? Why?"

He shrugged. "You were right. It's not good for me."

"I never said that."

"You thought it."

Tosh ducked her head and sighed. "I just think you deserve something else. Something steady and something that will lead to more than Jack might be willing to give."

"Someone like Lisa?" he asked.

Tosh swallowed against the sadness and grief her name evoked and squeezed Ianto's hand. "Yes."

He smiled bitterly. "Where did that leave me?"

Tosh bit her lip. She walked around the counter and embraced Ianto, hugging him tightly before she stepped back again. "You know that all of us feel what you feel, especially Gwen?"

He nodded. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I can't help it."

"You need training."

He snorted and stepped back. "Not the right time."

"It's never the right time! But you need it. And if Jack doesn't see that, you should just pack up and go."

Ianto ducked his head and brushed a hand through his dark hair. "I can't just leave," he said. "Jack needs me here."

"It shouldn't be about Jack," Tosh said. "And it's relatively quiet at the moment, so just go. Before things get worse."

xxx

The young soldiers called it 'the hole'. Natasha thought it was fitting. It was a tiny room in the UNIT London headquarters, tucked away on sub-level two. It seemed even smaller because the walls were plastered with various screens showing scans of the space around Earth and the table pushed against one of the walls was littered with keyboards and print-outs.

Whenever Natasha was condemned to work her shift down here, she wished she could use Facebook. But using the internet for private matters was immediately detected and after one warning, she would be fired for sure. UNIT didn't take kindly to things like that. They called it 'the avoidance of unnecessary distraction'. Natasha called it 'slow death'.

She stared at the screen while the systems ran through their regular security check of space around Earth. Quadrant A was fine, Quadrant B was fine, Quadrant C … her eyes lost focus of the scans, instead she looked at her reflection on the screen. She was thinking about getting her hair cut differently. She fussed with some of the shoulder-length black strands peaking out from under the beret, pushing them behind her ear. Maybe highlights, she thought. Something to make her brown eyes stand out more.

"No little green men approaching us?" her comrade Charlie Patel asked, dropping into his chair with a cup of coffee. His blue eyes only flitted to the screens before looking at her with a bright smile. Natasha wasn't above admitting that Charlie was the reason for her contemplating changing her hair. Sure, even thinking about him that way was fraternization and thus highly forbidden, but she didn't really care. Charlie was smart, gave her the time of a day (something that couldn't be said about most men) and she could talk about work with him. It didn't hurt that he was drop-dead gorgeous, either.

She gave a shy smile. "Not yet. I sure hope they will."

"An invasion would be better than this," Charlie picked up the joke and they chuckled.

Quadrant D was fine, Quadrant E, F, G …

Charlie sighed, bored. He took off his beret and brushed a hand through his mussed blonde hair. "Tell me again why we accepted this job?"

"Excellent pay," Natasha answered, widening her smile ... until she caught sight of herself in one of the screens. She'd always hated her smile.

Charlie tilted his head. "Is it worth this? If there's any action, it never happens here. It never happens to us."

"Well, at least we don't get killed," Natasha replied with a wry grin.

"Cheers to that," Charlie answered and they clinked coffee mugs.

The system beeped warningly.

Charlie immediately was all-business and fierce attention and Natasha donned her soldier persona as well. She started tapping away at her keyboard. Charlie was hastily using another keyboard, switching through the scan programme at lightning speed. "Quadrant H," he said, pulling up the telescope image. "Oh my God," he whispered.

Natasha swallowed thickly and her hand found his shoulder.

The image was grainy, the ships very far away ... but approaching.

Natasha hit the alarm. "Comparing the ships to our database."

Charlie adjusted the satellites. "Trying to take better pictures."

"Calculating the ETA."

"Alarming headquarters in the USA, Africa, India and Russia."

The door opened and their CO Major Wells entered. "What do we have?" His deep voice reverberated throughout the tiny room like thunder, calling for attention.

"Still working on it, sir," Charlie answered. "Several ships on their way to Earth for sure." He glanced at a countdown popping up. "ETA is twelve hours."

Wells cursed. "They're fast."

Natasha froze when her computer screen pulled up images of the approaching ships and showed a match in their database. She turned to face Wells, taking in the strained expression on his usually relaxed and friendly face, the way his brown eyes flitted from screen to screen, his hands folded behind his back as if he was keeping himself from sitting down and working alongside them. Natasha got up to catch his attention. "We know them, sir," she said. "The ships' structure and models match exactly ..." She swallowed when her voice failed her.

"Who is it?" Wells asked, looking at her reassuringly.

"Sycorax." Natasha squared her shoulders and repeated more firmly. "We've got incoming Sycorax battle ships, sir."

xxx

"Sycorax?" Stephen asked and turned away from the window and the view down onto Downing Street to look at General Pizano sitting at the polished conference table. "Are we sure?"

Pizano stared at him as if he'd implied she was stupid. "Of course we're sure, Captain Nowak." She was sitting ramrod straight, her curly black-grey hair pinned back expertly and the beret more an accessory for her strict look than a part of her uniform. Stephen had the utmost respect for her. She'd served all her life at UNIT and deserved the command over the headquarters in the Tower of London, no matter how much the young soldiers groused about her being too straight-laced. Her brown eyes pierced into him and he felt a flash of embarrassment. Pizano had been a mentor to him when he'd started out and he was still looking up to her. Doubting her words hadn't been his intention.

"I apologize, ma'am." He sat in one of the chairs surrounding the conference table and folded his hands.

Major Ewan Wells was walking up and down nervously, while Pizano seemed to be calm and unruffled. Stephen had been called here short-notice, leaving home and his family in a hurry. At first, he'd thought that this meeting had something to do with the Cyberman, but now, he almost wished it had. At least that horror was in the past. The Sycorax were very real now.

The door opened and all of them saluted Prime Minister Lewis Coleman, who entered with a sour expression on his round face. Coleman wasn't the most popular PM Great Britain had ever had, that was well-known. He'd taken over from Harriet Jones and her heritage wasn't an easy one. She'd been popular, the peoples' sympathy even staying with her when she'd had to resign because she couldn't withstand the pressure. But Coleman's position had become worse with his adversary Harold Saxon announcing his intention to run for Prime Minister in the coming elections: Younger, more handsome and – most importantly – gifted with more people skills than Coleman, Saxon seemed to be the country's new hope with the elections not even having started yet.

Coleman cleared his throat and fell into the chair at the head of the table, wiping his hands on a napkin distractedly. "Explain to me why I had to leave my family at the dinner table to come here," he said without a greeting.

Pizano took back her seat. "I'm afraid that I have to tell you that we've got Sycorax battle ships approaching the planet."

"Sycorax?" Coleman asked, his blue eyes staring at her in shock. "Should we fear them?"

"You should," someone said and they all turned towards the door, where the Minister of Defence Harold Saxon was standing, wearing a suit and a bright, friendly smile. "After all, they're partly responsible for us two being here, Prime Minister." He stepped closer. "Sycorax invaded Earth one year ago on Christmas. Back then, Harriet Jones was the PM and she was able to stop the invasion with the help of our beloved friend, the Doctor. It was after that incident that she decided to take her leave."

Stephen frowned. "The Sycorax were shot from the sky. Hardly a method the Doctor would sanction."

Coleman nodded in Saxon's direction, grudgingly admitting, "But the Sycorax were defeated. We did it once, we can do it again. One of Torchwood's weapons was used, isn't that right?" He looked at Pizano. "Is it still functional?"

"We can find that out, sir," she answered.

Wells snorted. "To what end? Back then, it was one ship. This time, we are facing several."

Coleman swallowed. "How many?"

"More than ten, less than fifty."

Saxon shrugged casually, looking like he was discussing the weather rather than an invasion. "I'm sure that it's not the only weapon we've got on our hands. And then there's always Torchwood. We could ask for advice if all else fails."

Wells laughed. "Which Torchwood are we talking about here? The archives in Glasgow or the rogue little troublemakers in Cardiff?"

Stephen unconsciously bristled at that. "Torchwood Three is a good branch," he answered, irritated. "Harkness is a good man." He was getting tired of UNIT doubting Torchwood. As a liaison, he knew it better than anyone else in the room and while he conceded that Torchwood had its flaws, he could hardly claim that UNIT was perfect.

Coleman sighed tiredly. "They're only five people. I'm actually considering shutting them down."

"Considering?" Stephen asked sharply. "As far as I know, you put the process in motion already."

Pizano raised a hand. "This isn't the right time for this discussion." She glared at Stephen warningly. He knew he wasn't popular with this opinion about Torchwood. Some considered him to be too close to them. He wasn't ashamed to consider Jack Harkness a friend, though. No matter what Torchwood One had done, Jack was one of the good blokes. Pizano turned back to Coleman. "Fact is that the Sycorax are coming, probably to take revenge for the ship we destroyed. And they could have a blood control device on board."

Silence descended.

Blood control was the Sycorax's strongest weapon. And their most dangerous one. With just a small amount of blood from a human, they could cause the death of millions. It had almost happened the last time, when everyone with a certain blood group had stood on the roofs all over the world, threatening to jump. This time, it could become more than a threat. Stephen's heart skipped a beat, thinking of his daughter on a roof, at the edge of life, his wife next to her. He shook his head. "Wasn't the blood they had from us destroyed along with their ship?"

Saxon was still smiling. "Can we be sure? Sycorax aren't stupid. It would make sense for them to send half of the blood to their home planet and use the rest to threaten us."

Coleman wiped a hand over his forehead and brushed back his thinning brown hair. "What do we do?"

"We can't attack with just one weapon," Saxon said, "or they'd strike back and that would be the end of us."

"Don't we have space ships?" Coleman looked at Pizano hopefully. "I thought we had a functioning prototype."

"The _Valiant_ is only one ship," Pizano replied. "And not even a space ship. I don't think we have anything in store that could help us defeat a fleet."

"What should we do then? Contact the Doctor?"

"We don't know how. He comes whenever he pleases."

Stephen snorted. "He might just let us be overrun after what happened the last time."

Wells replied, "We don't know if he wasn't the one pulling the trigger. Miss Jones and her assistant never really told us what happened."

Pizano shook her head. "The Doctor wouldn't have. He's not that kind of person. I had the honour to meet him. He's a good man and life – be it innocent or not – means a lot to him."

"However …," Coleman said loudly, taking back control, "he's not here."

Stephen said, "We could ask Torchwood Three if they have a solution. Some of Torchwood One's equipment is stored in their archives and Captain Harkness has proven himself very resourceful. There were even rumours in Torchwood One that he's connected to the Doctor."

"True," Saxon said. "I read his file. Fascinating piece of literature, by the way. It seems he travelled with the Doctor for a while."

Wells snorted condescendingly. "The Doctor is known for picking up lost puppies."

"Let's just say that Captain Harkness is far more fascinating than a puppy," Saxon replied with a smile.

Impatiently, Coleman said, "Be it as it is, we need to do something."

Pizano shrugged. "It's your decision, sir."

Coleman looked torn, weighing his options, then he sighed. "Captain Harkness won't let me forget this but … call him."

xxx

Ianto locked the tourist office and sighed tiredly. The day hadn't been particularly long or stressful but he'd thought about Tosh's words from a few hours ago and he'd even gone as far as to make some discreet arrangements with Archie. Thing was that he couldn't take the last step, couldn't tell Jack that he would leave just like that. But the situation was becoming more difficult and dangerous by the hour and he had no other choice. Tomorrow, he'd promised himself. He'd call Jack first thing in the morning and then leave.

The night was warm for December and he was thinking about whether he should order food in or swing by Tesco's when he heard a gun being cocked close to his head. He froze automatically.

"Hands up," a male, gravelly voice ordered. He swallowed and stared at the door to the tourist office while he obeyed the man hesitantly. Before he could get his hands above his head fully, he was grabbed and pushed against the wood of the door, then his hands were cuffed behind his back while the man said, "Ianto Jones, UNIT is arresting you under the suspicion of treason and murder."

A lead weight settled in his stomach and he found it hard to take a breath. Then he was pulled away from the door and around, finding himself surrounded by a small team of soldiers in black combat uniforms, their red berets like splashes of colour against the grey and black of the dimly-lit walkway. He didn't know whether he should be flattered they thought that they'd need five men to arrest him, then he wondered whether he was slipping into hysterics.

Whatever the case, he was interrupted by a loud bang when the door to the tourist office was unlocked from the inside and slammed open. "What's going on here?" Jack's voice thundered through the air. Ianto closed his eyes, feeling the grip of the man holding him tighten. He felt numb, couldn't resist, felt weak … and turned away from Jack when he came around them to look at Ianto.

_Murder and treason._

The man in charge calmly answered, "We're obeying orders, sir."

"Ianto Jones is a member of my team. He's Torchwood, you've got no right."

"We have every right."

The tide of anger from Jack was rising. Ianto forced himself to calm down, focused on the way the city lights danced on the waves of the Bay. He was pushed forwards to walk towards Roald Dahl Plass, one hand holding on tightly and spurring him on.

_Murder and treason._

That meant a UNIT prison. That meant ...

"You hold it right there!" Jack called. There was a moment of hesitation from the man holding him, the team stopping and turning back. Jack came closer. "You can't take him away."

"Take him to the car," the leader ordered.

Ianto was pushed forwards again and he obeyed, hearing Jack say, "I want to talk to the responsible officer right now."

"You're talking to him, Captain."

"Your CO!"

"I'm sorry, sir, that information is classified."

"Where are you taking him?"

"Classified, sir."

_Murder and treason. _

The voices faded into the night, only the sound of the boots on the wooden walkway and the splashing of the ocean accompanying him. Strange, he'd always thought he would resist ...

He knew about UNIT prisons, had read reports, listened to Tosh's nightmares ...

"Ianto!" Jack called, pulling him out of his stupor.

Ianto turned around, was pushed to move on, but managed to look at Jack over his shoulder, stumbling.

Jack's expression was feverish, dark, intense. "We'll get you out! Don't say a thing!"

The last glimpse Ianto caught off Jack before they turned a corner was Jack grabbing the man in charge and slamming him against the wall of the quay.

He took a deep breath. Let it out.

And then he started shaking, because he knew this was it – the end. Almost nobody left UNIT prisons. Especially people like him.

Because he was, in fact, guilty as charged.


	8. Chapter 8

**7.**

"You told me you'd warn me!" Jack yelled into the receiver. "You promised!"

"_I'm sorry,"_ Stephen said, _"but, Jack-"_

"You have some nerve to call me right now. They just arrested Ianto. You know just as well as I do that I'll have no way of getting to him now. No way to help him!"

"_That won't be a problem for very long, Jack, because he's innocent!"_ Stephen answered.

Jack bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut, turning away from his desk and towards the round window behind it allowing him a view of the darkened Hub in night mode.

"_Oh God,"_ Stephen said when he understood. _"Jack, you knew?"_

"I found out! I handled it, God damn it, so get them to back off!"

"_I can't."_

"Then we have nothing more to say."

"_Jack!"_ Stephen replied angrily. _"This isn't the time-"_

"You bet it is!"

"_Earth is being attacked!"_

That gave Jack pause. He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"_Sycorax." _

Jack took a deep breath, remembering the reports he'd read about what had been going down last Christmas. He was still so very grateful none of his team had been standing on some rooftop, all of them a different blood type than the one the Sycorax had used. His relationship with Torchwood One had already been rocky back then, barely existent after One had forced him to accept the Rift manipulator in the Hub. He'd offered his help grudgingly nonetheless … and was turned down. He'd never believed the reports, never believed the Doctor would have shot the Sycorax in the back when they were already leaving Earth, admitting defeat. The Ghost Shifts had started soon after and Jack had broken things off with Yvonne once and for all. Now, he sank into his chair, overcome with dread. What the seer had said, what Alex had seen … could this be it?

He cleared his throat. "Revenge?"

"_We received an official transmission a few minutes ago. I sent it to you via e-mail."_ Stephen's voice was calm again, collected, sounding more like the Captain Nowak Jack had come to known as their liaison. He trusted Stephen and they'd become friends.

Jack opened the email he found in his in-box and then the video footage. The Sycorax were crowded together, looking out at him. Their helmets made them look like bizarre skulls of long-dead enemies with red, glowing eyes. He knew that beneath them, they weren't exactly beauties, either. One of them was talking, his deep, gravelly voice making the cruel language of the Sycorax even more threatening. Jack didn't need the rather bad translation that was running through the bottom of the footage as subtitles. He understood Sycorax and the message was clear:

"_Give us the people responsible for the death of our king or die."_

Jack shook his head and brushed a hand through his short hair. "That's just great. Not only did Torchwood One shoot down a Sycorax ship, they shot down the king." He sighed deeply and leaned back in his chair tiredly. "What should I do about that now?"

"_Help us. Work with us to stop them."_

Jack had never been shy about using leverage when it was presented to him on a silver platter. A small smile spread on his face. "What a lucky coincidence. You want me to help you and I want you to help me."

"_I can't get Ianto out, Jack. I'm not part of that investigation."_

"Give me visitor rights. I want to see him."

"_Impossible. Not during a running investigation."_

Jack swallowed, staring at the wall. He knew he was pushing it, but he didn't feel like he had any other choice. "Then I can't help you."

He waited, listening to Stephen breathe. _"Damn you, Jack. I'll call you back."_

xxx

"Arrogant twat," Coleman said, staring at Stephen in disbelief. "Well, I think we'll manage without him then."

Saxon was sprawled in one of the chairs by now, sipping a brandy and his feet crossed at the ankles. "Can we, though?" Coleman looked at him questioningly and Saxon explained, "He only wants visitor rights to see one of his team. It's not like he's asking for a lot."

Pizano crossed her arms and stepped away from the window. "That prisoner is being accused of treason and murder."

Stephen nodded. "'Accused' is the right choice of words here. What proof do we have that Ianto Jones did it?"

"Colonel Thompson assured me that he's got proof," Pizano answered. "Mr. Jones's case shouldn't have any bearing on this situation. Captain Harkness is clearly underestimating what's happening."

"Is he, though?" Stephen asked. "He's very smart and we just gave him a handle to blackmail us."

Coleman snorted. "Well, I say we send in a squadron of UNIT soldiers and raid the Torchwood base, take what we need."

Saxon chuckled. "Really? You think you can just walk into Torchwood Three?" He folded his hands around the glass. "Give him what he wants. Jones's case won't be a big concern anymore when the Sycorax kill half the population of Earth."

It was quiet for a moment, then Coleman turned to Stephen, his blue eyes piercing out of his tired, pale face. "What does the Captain have that could help us? Did he say?"

"No, I'm afraid he didn't."

"So there's no guarantee that he might even be able to help at all?"

Saxon raised a hand. "He travelled with the Doctor. Can we really assume that he doesn't know what to do? Doesn't know how to contact him?"

"You seem to know an awful lot about him," Coleman said with a frown.

Saxon shrugged. "I talked to him a few weeks ago. Nice little chat about funding." He gave Coleman a mischievous little grin and the Prime Minister's lips narrowed. Saxon looked at Pizano. "I think we've found leverage over him. You give him his visitor rights and I'll get him to work with us on this." For a moment, silence hung heavy in the air while everyone seemed to consider that. Saxon chuckled. "Really … what do you have to lose?"

Pizano looked at Stephen."You can call him … but give us enough time to reach Mr. Jones first. We'll take the chopper."

xxx

They'd taken him to the UNIT facility just outside Newport, a temporary fix until he would be transported to London, where the UK holding facility was located. The drive had been silent and tense, only serving to make Ianto think and make it that much clearer what kind of trouble he was in. The Newport facility was small and located in a deserted area in what – from the outside – looked like a warehouse. It stretched far into the ground, though, and Ianto was at the very bottom of the building, in a bare room with a table and two chairs and a mirror along one wall that was surely a window to the observation area, still handcuffed and possibly more alone than he'd ever been.

Ianto startled when the door to the interrogation room closed and huddled into himself, taking deep breaths to calm down. The more upset he got, the more he started to feel the emotions floating around him. Mostly tiredness and tense apprehension, some amount of fear – without a doubt from other prisoners held here – and, far and in between, anger. He wondered where the positive emotions were and if maybe he couldn't pick up on them because he felt so anxious himself.

"Mr. Jones," the man who'd entered said, almost gently. He was imposing, the dark-green uniform sitting perfectly. Green sharp eyes looked at Ianto and a file in his hands in turn, the strong jaw tense, his expression professionally neutral. His name tag read _Colonel P. Thompson_. He sat in the chair opposite him, still studying the file. "Ianto Jones, born and raised in Cardiff, went to London and ended up at Torchwood One. Archivist, up for a Junior Researcher position. Deemed talented where mental abilities are concerned." He looked up at Ianto, as if waiting for an answer.

Ianto swallowed and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "Yes," he finally said, his voice softer than he would like it to be. He would play along until Jack got him out … if he ever did.

"You survived the battle of Canary Wharf nearly unscathed." It sounded like an accusation.

Ianto nodded slowly. "Yes."

Thompson closed the file and folded his hands on top of it. "Do you know what exactly we are accusing you of, Mr. Jones?"

Ianto wiped his forehead, where sweat was starting to bead, his stomach was in knots. He knew that he was probably trembling, losing it, the emotions encroaching, choking him ... "I guess so," he answered shakily.

"Did you help a Cyberman escape Torchwood Tower?"

Fear was clogging up Ianto's throat. He swallowed, trying to dislodge it, feeling like he didn't get enough air. He gasped. "Something's wrong," he said. "Please."

Colonel Thompson's voice sounded like it was coming from far away. "Mr. Jones, do you feel able to make a statement?"

Ianto shook his head.

"It wouldn't make a difference," Thompson said. "We have proof that you did it. We just want to know where the Cyberman is now."

"She's dead," Ianto whispered. His breathing turned ragged. "Oh God ..." He put his head in his hands. "Please." He could feel his resolve crumbling, his strength fading, his instinct telling him that something awful was about to happen ...

"Mr. Jones," Thompson said. Somebody touched his forearm but it burned like fire and Ianto reared back with a cry. "Mr. Jones!" Thompson's voice faded, as if heard through mist. "Guards!"

Ianto heard a door open and then someone screamed …

… and Ianto wasn't quite sure if it was himself.


	9. Chapter 9

**8.**

"Shouldn't we call Owen?" Tosh asked Jack, who was busy checking his Webley and then threw another gun at Gwen. She caught the gun, a little clumsily. She was still trying to get back into Torchwood mode after having left a few hours earlier to enjoy an evening in with Rhys. Until Jack had called, saying Ianto had been arrested and that Earth was under attack. Tosh crossed her arms, her face grim and worried, her black hair tied back into an untidy ponytail. Jack looked focused while he slid his Webley into the holster at his hip and donned his coat. Tosh touched his shoulder hesitantly. "Should you go in there armed?"

Jack ignored her second question. "Owen can't help."

Tosh and Gwen exchanged a glance while Gwen shoved her gun into the waistband of her jeans and hid it under her leather jacket. They all hated it when Jack did this, when he only gave half-answers and left out information.

Tosh shook her head. "You said that Ianto might be hurt."

"Yes, but Owen is the last person who can help him now." He picked a file from his desk and handed it to her. Gwen recognized it as one of their own. Jack asked, "Remember the blood control?"

Tosh's eyes widened and she opened the file, skimming through pages. "Sycorax. I remember."

"Also remember how you told me back then that you could counteract it?"

Gwen kept quiet, knowing that time was of the essence and questions could be asked later.

Tosh looked at Jack with a frown. "Yes, but I never had time to finish it with everything going on."

Jack put his hands on her shoulders. "Well, now's your chance to do it. I need something going for us. I need something going for Ianto."

Tosh nodded earnestly and hurried out of Jack's office and towards her work station.

"Gwen, you're with me," Jack said and followed Tosh into the main Hub, turning off into the corridor leading to the garage.

Gwen followed him hurriedly. "Blood control?"

"Remember all the people standing on roof tops Christmas 2005?"

Gwen shuddered. "I remember trying to keep Rhys from jumping, yes. They said it was some hallucinogen in the water only certain blood groups responded to."

He stopped and turned around to her, his blue eyes almost black in the dim light. "And you believed that?"

Gwen snorted. "Did I have a choice?"

He gave her a thin smile. "Probably not."

He hurried on and Gwen followed, trying to keep up with his determined strides. "So it was that blood control thing?"

"The Sycorax had a small amount of blood of the group A-positive and they used a device to threaten Earth: Either they kill the A-positive people via mind control or they get what they want."

He slammed open the door to the garage. Their black SUV was waiting faithfully. While Jack settled in the driver's seat, Gwen buckled into the passenger seat and pulled the seat belt tight. Jack could be a wild driver when relaxed. In his current state, he would be a menace.

The powerful engine hummed to life.

Gwen asked, "Okay, so we got rid of them last time?"

The evening rush hour was long over but Cardiff's main streets were always busy. Jack sped out of the garage without looking twice at the traffic, leaving some cars honking in their wake. "The Doctor did, and then Torchwood One messed it up and now they're back. They could have blood control."

"If Tosh is able to counteract it ..." Gwen stared at Jack and realized what he was planning. "You want to blackmail UNIT into giving us Ianto back?" She yelped when Jack turned a corner viciously.

His smile was grim. "Exactly."

"How do you know they'll do it?"

"Because they already gave in and allowed us to go see him."

"Where did they bring him?"

"Nowak's text said a UNIT facility just outside of Newport. They hold people there temporarily before transferring them to London." He glanced at Gwen. "I won't let that happen."

She believed him.

xxx

The Newport UNIT base was not just a temporary holding facility, it also included an archive and the administration for UNIT in Wales. It was a one-story building enclosed by a security fence and a guarded gate, hidden behind the trees near Cwm-heron Wood. It was relatively small, unnoticeable, just a flat building. Its secret was five sub-levels reaching deep into the ground.

Stephen knew that something was off as soon as they left the chopper. It was just a feeling in the pit of his stomach, something that didn't happen very often to him. The chopper's rotors were still whipping the wind around them, gradually calming and getting slower, taking the noise of the engine with them. With the silence, the uneasy feeling got stronger. Stephen threw a glance at Pizano to gauge if she felt it, too, but her face was unreadable as ever while she straightened her uniform, her heels clicking on the asphalt. Stephen looked around, trying to spot some form of danger. The forest was dark and ruled by shadows thrown by the moon and the lights lining the fence. Everything was quiet. There really wasn't any reason for Stephen to be unsettled and still, he felt …

"Amazing," Saxon said and Stephen startled, only realizing now that Saxon and Coleman had climbed out as well. While it wasn't unusual for Coleman to visit UNIT facilities, it was quite uncommon that he did so in the middle of the night. He could have stayed in London and let his Minister of Defense handle this alone, but apparently, Coleman wanted to talk to Jack Harkness in person. Major Wells had stayed behind in London, wanting to keep an eye on the Sycorax situation. So it was just the four of them and still, Stephen knew he should send the civilians home. It was instinct maybe. Silly, nonetheless, because this was a secure facility.

Coleman was looking at the building with something akin to dread and when Stephen looked at Pizano again, she seemed a bit pale herself. Only Saxon didn't seem to be affected by … whatever, smiling politely and tilting his head towards the door invitingly. "Shall we?"

Pizano seemed to shake herself and straightened her shoulders. "Let's go."

Inside, the feeling of dread only got stronger, lodging itself in Stephen's stomach like a stone. The guards welcomed them with grim faces and opened the elevator doors for them.

Pizano seemed to take a deep breath before she pushed the button for the lowest level, as if she wasn't quite sure anymore that she wanted to go. Coleman actually suppressed a groan when the elevator stopped, leaning against the wall. Stephen felt his hands shake, fear replacing dread and Pizano had her fingers balled to fists, her lips a thin, white line. Saxon took a deep breath. "Oh, boy", he said.

Then he left the elevator first.

Sub-Level 5 was the holding facility, housing two interrogation rooms and seven cells. There were two young soldiers awaiting them in the small entrance room. The man looked shell-shocked, the woman had tears in her eyes. Both were holding their guns. They didn't even salute. The door mechanism showed a red, blinking light, indicating that it was sealed shut from here.

Stephen stared at the light and Pizano followed his gaze, then she glared at the soldiers. "What's going on here?"

Stephen thought he could hear her voice tremble.

The soldiers jumped, as if Pizano's question had hurt them physically, then the man whispered, "We don't know, ma'am."

Stephen looked at the young woman, who dropped her gun and broke into sobs.

Saxon's calm voice rang through the room, "Evacuate the facility. Do it now."

The woman just huddled into a corner and crouched down, hiding her face behind her hands.

"What is going on here?" Coleman asked, grabbing Stephen's arm. "Tell me what's wrong!"

"I ..." Stephen avoided the fearful blue eyes and shook his head. "I don't know, Prime Minister."

Pizano snapped, "Evacuate! Unlock these doors!"

The male soldier hit a red button on the wall and an alarm started to blare. "It won't help, ma'am," he said. "Nobody will leave."

"If you don't unlock these doors, nobody will!" Pizano said, her eyes blazing angrily. "Unlock them!"

The young man shook his head. "You don't understand-"

"Do it now! That's an order!"

"They're all dead!"

She pushed him away, ripping his ID card from his breast pocket in the process. She slid it through the door mechanism, the red light turning green.

"They're all dead," the young man repeated, then he raised his gun and shot himself.

Coleman screamed and jumped back, behind Stephen. "What the ..."

Stephen didn't have an answer.

Saxon walked past them, side-stepping the pool of blood slowly spreading on the grey floor and pushed open the doors. The corridor was branching off into the cells and the interrogation rooms. Seven soldiers were lying on the floor, propped up against the concrete walls, dead eyes staring into nothing. Some of them seemed to have committed suicide, but Stephen saw others bearing bruises and strangulation marks … a fight had gone down here and everybody had lost.

He left the Prime Minister sobbing over the dead bodies in the corridor and Pizano screaming at the young woman to get up and away, and instead followed Saxon to the only open door. They entered the observation deck of one of the interrogation rooms. Saxon stopped and looked through the window. "Oh my …," he said.

Stephen followed his gaze and his eyes widened in horror. The fear and panic started to become overwhelming and he sank to the floor, unable to look any longer. When the first sobs started to choke him, he thought he heard Saxon's calm voice, but he wasn't quite sure. Because why would the man say something like that in this situation?

"Look at you. You are magnificent."

xxx

"Jack," Gwen said and he looked at her, taking her hand and pulling her close. She buried her face against his coat, the old wool soaking up her tears. The fear that had started to grab her up in the parking lot was becoming overwhelming. She knew she should be ashamed about showing her weakness like this, but she didn't really care. Nothing seemed to matter, really. Nothing but Jack's safe presence, the way he smelled, his comforting touch.

The elevator slowly rumbled down and the closer they got to Sub-Level 5, the more Gwen felt like she shouldn't be here. Jack's arm came up around her shoulders, pulling her in closer and he kissed her head. "Give me your gun," he said softly.

Gwen didn't care why he wanted it, she just obeyed, watching him throw it into the corner of the elevator when the doors opened. Gwen sobbed. "No, no, no, let's leave," she whispered, grabbing Jack around the waist when he stepped forward to leave the cabin. "I don't want to go there, please!"

What they saw in this room was bad enough. A dead soldier lying on the floor, blood from the shot to the head congealing on the cement and a young woman huddled in the corner, screaming hysterically while an older woman tried to pull her away.

"Oh God," Jack murmured. "Ianto, what have you done?"

"Ianto?" Gwen asked, surprised.

"Come on," Jack said, pulling her along.

She fought him. "No, please!"

"I can't leave you here!" He pulled her out of the elevator and the doors closed. "I didn't think it would be so bad or I wouldn't have taken you along at all."

"Why don't you feel it?" she asked, wiping her eyes.

"Believe me," he said. "I do."

She trembled and tried to stay as close to him as possible when they passed through the doors. The corridor bore the signs of more death.

"Oh God," Gwen whispered. "They killed themselves … each other. Why would they ..." It seemed so wrong, the corpses of soldiers dead in a facility that was supposed to be safe. Safe from the outside, but apparently defenceless against the danger lurking on the inside. "What happened here?"

Jack's voice was sad. "This is the kind of battle field an empath leaves behind when he works for the wrong people," he said. "I've seen it before. I was trained to withstand." He stopped for a moment, sadly looking down at two women whose guns were still pointing at each other, even though their owners were long-dead. "They weren't."

"But you told me once that you can't defend yourself against Owen's anger. Why-"

"I was afraid this would happen. I prepared myself." He sighed. "Owen's anger comes at me too quickly to avoid it, but this built up steadily the closer we came. I was able to slowly adapt."

"Captain Harkness!" They looked up and there was the Prime Minister Lewis Coleman, staring at them with fever in his eyes. He was pointing a gun at them. "This is your fault!"

"My fault?" Jack asked in disbelief. "I'm here to stop him."

"Well, I won't let you through to him."

"You should, because what you're looking at here is a very powerful, untrained empath internalizing the pain and desperation of dozens and projecting it. It's not just the prisoners he feeds on, it's every negative emotion of these soldiers as well – every piece of sadness, grief, uncertainty and anger. He doesn't have any control over what he does." He pulled a syringe from his coat pocket. "I can stop him."

Gwen wiped her cheeks. "What's that?"

Jack ignored her, his stony face scaring her more and more. And still, she clung to him like a child.

"Traitor," Coleman hissed. "You hate UNIT and you're mad because I won't fund you anymore and now you're trying to kill us all!" His grip around his gun tightened … and then he dropped to the floor, unconscious. Gwen stared at a man in a suit who was holding another gun the wrong way around, obviously having knocked Coleman out with the butt. He was slim, blond hair, a mild smile on his lips. Gwen knew him from the news: Harold Saxon.

Jack walked towards him, pulling Gwen along. "What are _you_ doing here?" he asked.

Saxon was calm when he answered, "Opening a door for you." With that, he pushed open the door next to him. "He's in there."

Jack brushed past him and straight into the interrogation room. Gwen was shocked when she saw Ianto sitting there, stock-still, tears running down his cheeks, but otherwise quiet. There was a man in uniform sitting in the corner of the room, staring at them all with fear in his eyes. He was whimpering quietly.

Jack ignored him and shook Gwen off. When she tried to each for him again, someone grabbed her and she was pulled back against a strong chest. The feeling of safety Jack had given her enveloped her again and she clung to Saxon, trying to soak it up. So strange … didn't Jack say one needed special training for this?

Kneeling next to Ianto's chair, Jack took his chin with his hand, forcing him to look at him. He whispered something, but Gwen couldn't understand it over the screams of someone in the observation room. Then Jack injected the syringe into Ianto's neck. Ianto sank forwards almost immediately. Jack caught him and pulled him off the chair and into his arms, still whispering to him.

Gwen wanted to ask if Ianto was okay, but she felt strange suddenly and then everything went black.


	10. Chapter 10

**9.**

"You can't be serious!"

Gwen frowned, fighting against the mist of unconsciousness, and groaned when it felt like she was losing.

"... childish, Captain!"

"It's your fault this situation ended the way it did! I think it's time that Torchwood ..."

Jack's voice. She tried to open her eyes but felt incredibly weak, like something just sapped all strength out of her.

"... a diplomatic solution." This man's voice was vaguely familiar. Calm, self-confident and smooth. She trusted that voice.

A woman said, "I agree."

"Without a doubt, we can't repeat the mistake we just made."

Furiously, the man that had been yelling before answered, "No mistakes were made! We didn't have all the information ..."

Gwen coughed and rolled her head to the side, towards the voices. A cool breeze brushed through her fringe and over her cheek and she shivered. The skin of her cheeks felt like it always did after she'd had a huge row with Rhys, after she'd cried a lot. Had she cried?

"You're not making the decision here, Captain. And neither are you, Harold. With all due respect, I'm still Prime Minister."

What was going on?

She opened her eyes a crack and saw blurred figures, dark against bright lights. She blinked, realizing suddenly that she was sitting in the passenger seat of the SUV and that the voices were drifting inside through the slightly open window. Coleman was the first one she recognized, standing there, staring at the SUV and rubbing his neck. Even slightly overweight, he looked wrung-out and pale, just like UNIT London head General Pizano, who was leaning back against the wall, her arms crossed. Jack had his back to her, his shoulders tense under his coat and his hands on his hips. Saxon and Nowak were standing to both sides of him like bodyguards, shielding the SUV from Coleman, Pizano and the yelling, imposing soldier, who stood next to Coleman. The memory of what had happened slowly returned and Gwen wondered how long she'd been unconscious. A glance at the clock on the dashboard told her that it was just after midnight, so not too long.

She turned her attention back to the argument outside the car, the bright floodlights hurting her eyes.

Coleman shook his head. "Doesn't make much sense to deny that what happened here is the perfect picture of Bedlam."

Jack replied, "It's called emotional warfare. It will be, at least."

Coleman looked at him. "What will happen when he wakes up?"

"Nothing," Jack answered. "Not as long as we keep the injections up. Trouble is that they will only work for a while before he gets immune. They're usually used to support training, not to stop something like this. You want to do permanent damage to an empath, you do it with something else."

"Why can't we do that then?"

"Because it would destroy everything resembling emotion." Jack's voice was tight and Gwen could just imagine his angry scowl. "You want to turn him into a zombie?"

Saxon raised a hand. "This is all rather interesting, but we have another problem at hand, don't we? Sycorax."

For a moment, it was silent, then Coleman said, "I think we all made our positions clear. UNIT wants to persecute Mr. Jones and Captain Harkness refuses to unlock the car and let them get to him."

Gwen frowned and looked around, finally turning in her seat to find Ianto sleeping soundly on the backseat.

Coleman continued, "So let's get one problem out of the way before dealing with the next, shall we? Captain Harkness thinks Torchwood may have a way to rid us of the Sycorax. Which gives him the advantage." He gave Jack a sour look. "Let him have Mr. Jones back in his care … for now."

Jack nodded. "That settles it."

He started to turn away but Coleman said, "I'm not done yet."

Jack froze.

"The Torchwood base will become base of operations for the Sycorax incident. You're going to allow a number of UNIT personnel access."

"No-"

"That can be arranged," Saxon said, talking over Jack who stared at him in disbelief. "Mr. Jones will remain fully in Torchwood's care, though. Any arrest is invalid as of now."

Pizano seemed reluctant and the angry soldier looked about ready to attack Saxon, but Saxon just stepped up to them and leaned in, starting to talk to them in hushed tones. Jack turned away, towards the SUV and Gwen saw how livid he was … and how worried. When he saw her looking at him, he smiled, though, just to be distracted by Pizano who agreed, "Alright … then I will inform Major Wells and he will put together a team." With that, she turned away and left, Nowak and Coleman following in her wake, the angry soldier doing as well, though reluctantly.

Jack rounded on Saxon. "Do you know what you did? By allowing them access, I practically turn the Hub over to them. I probably won't be able to protect Ianto if they want to take him."

"It'll all work out, Captain, don't you worry," Saxon answered.

"What did you tell them?"

"I piqued their interest. An empath as powerful as Mr. Jones … they better make sure he gets time to recover in an emotionally stable and safe environment … or what passes for it at the moment. Just so that he's ready for a few questions concerning his abilities when the crisis blows over."

"You promised them to let them experiment on him?" Jack hissed.

"No," Saxon answered with a wink, "but they might think I did." When he saw that Jack wasn't happy, he sighed. "I can get him out. I can help you, Captain, believe me … I'm a master of arguments." He chuckled to himself and followed the others back to the entrance of the base.

Jack unlocked the SUV and opened the passenger door. "Alright?" he asked Gwen gently.

She nodded, still feeling a bit shaky.

He opened the glove compartment. "Here," he said, handing her a bottle of apple juice. "That'll help you."

"I still can't believe this happened," Gwen said and softly asked, "Is Ianto really that strong? A whole building?"

Jack glanced at Ianto and then answered earnestly, "He's untrained, he was scared, his abilities have been all over the place for days … he is that strong. The scary thing is ..." He hesitated for a moment, then added, "With a bit of training, he could become much stronger."

xxx

Tosh made sure to be at the Hub when Jack and Gwen returned from Newport just after one in the morning. As Jack had told her on the phone, she'd readied one of the guest quarters. Jack had very quickly explained what had happened but Tosh still couldn't quite understand. It was possible that you only were able to if you had seen it with your own eyes, like Gwen.

As expected, she was pale and wore a haunted look. And she was irritated at Jack, that much Tosh could tell. Jack led an oddly quiet and glassy-eyed Ianto through the corridors to the room Tosh had prepared. Ianto looked as if he wasn't quite aware of what was going on, but let himself be manipulated to sit on the bed of the sparse quarters. In the weak glow of the old desk lamp, he looked almost serene and happy, as if in a trance.

Jack sat next to Ianto, the bed squeaking in protest. Absently, Tosh caught herself thinking that they needed to do something about these rooms. They looked like nobody had bothered to update them since the 70s and comfort apparently hadn't been the main concern.

Jack gave a weak smile at Ianto which faltered a bit when it was returned with just a blank stare. "Okay," Jack said gently. "It's alright, now. You can rest a bit."

"Should I call in Owen?" Tosh asked hesitantly, setting a water bottle down on the bedside table.

"No," Jack answered slowly, taking off Ianto's suit jacket. "Owen can't do a thing and I don't fancy him being anywhere near this situation at the moment. The state he's in, with UNIT breathing down our necks within the hour … they've got enough reason to doubt us. We don't have to give them more."

Tosh glanced at Gwen who was watching them from the door, a frown on her face. "I still think we should call Archie."

"Archie can't help," Jack said.

"Damn it, Jack!" Gwen snapped. "I wish you'd consider accepting help from … anyone, really!" Tosh saw Jack's jaw clench, the way his shoulders hunched, but he didn't answer, kept his eyes on Ianto. He reached for the bottle and put it into Ianto's hand, while Gwen continued, "It's no wonder they're considering to shut us down, which you forgot to mention to us for God knows how long, by the way. This is rubbish!"

"Shut up, Gwen," Jack said. She stared at him in disbelief. He returned her glare. "This is not the time or the place," he added, watching Ianto drink. Tosh shuddered at seeing Ianto like this, acting as if on auto pilot.

Gwen huffed and turned, slamming the door on her way out.

"We don't need help," Jack said, looking up at Tosh as if he was looking for a confirmation. She sighed and went over to him, kneeling to hug him. His hands grasped her cardigan, pulling her closer.

"Jack-"

"Now Ianto's falling to pieces and his freedom is hanging on by a thread and depends on Saxon who wants to use Torchwood in some way – I just know that he is not up to as much good as he claims. Owen's not himself and the only thing I can do is try and give him space. And with UNIT here ..." He looked at her, his big hands cupping her face tenderly. "I'm scared for you."

"Don't worry about me," Tosh whispered. "You're here, I'm fine."

Jack looked at Ianto. "Gwen doesn't understand-"

"Gwen is right," Tosh interrupted him. "We need help. And if Saxon can provide that help, who are we to turn it down?"

"And if it comes back to bite us in the ass?"

Tosh bit her lip. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Jack smiled sadly. "Toshiko Sato," he whispered. "What would I do without you?"

"You won't have to find out. Work with what you have, Jack – Gwen and me. You're a good leader, you can do this. We'll take care of the Sycorax and then we'll take care of the rest. One step at a time."

Jack nodded slowly. "One step at a time." He kissed Tosh's forehead and looked at Ianto.

Tosh leaned against him and took Ianto's free hand. "What happened to him?"

"I drugged him, shut down his emotional centre of the brain." Jack gave a sad smile. "He can't feel a thing." He swallowed. "It won't last. Pre-7 is used in training when an empath loses control."

"You knew what was going to happen," Tosh realised.

"I hoped I'd be in time to stop it. I hoped I'd be able to avoid anyone dying."

Which reminded Tosh of her main concern. "Will he remember?"

Jack took the water bottle out of Ianto's hand and cupped his cheek. "Maybe."

"Gwen looked scared."

Jack got up and kissed Ianto's forehead, before pushing him down to lie on the bed. "Ianto is an empath. A strong one. Maybe even the strongest I've ever seen except for the Doctor. I know he's our friend." Jack looked at Tosh earnestly. "But you've got every reason to be scared."


	11. Chapter 11

**10.**

"We have a plan," Jack said as soon as he entered the brightly lit main Hub. He found Gwen on the couch, staring at her mobile, and stepped closer. Secretly, he was glad that she hadn't left. He'd half expected her to.

"Do we?" she asked sharply, not looking at him.

"UNIT's going to be here with five representatives within the hour," Jack said. "First step: Secure the Hub." He looked up at the high ceiling, watching Myfanwy circle the water tower for a moment, before he looked towards Tosh's workstation. Tosh was already in her chair, typing away on her keyboard. Jack smiled proudly. "Tosh?"

"Locking the armoury, archives and the cells." She looked at Gwen. "Use the numeric code you received to enter the tourist office in case Ianto isn't there. I will lock that door as well."

"Give as much control as possible to us," Jack explained. "The only rooms UNIT should be able to access without our permission should be the bathrooms." He looked up again, this time focusing on the windows of the boardroom one level up. "And I'm still thinking about taking that away from them." Tosh gave a weak smile at the joke, Gwen ignored it resolutely. Jack sighed and continued, "Next step: Gwen, you're taking over as 2IC."

Gwen's eyes widened and she got up from the couch. "I … what? No!"

"Yes."

"But Tosh-"

"Doesn't want the position," Jack interrupted. "And Ianto can't take it, he's not a fully trained agent yet. And I relieved Owen of it. Only one possibility remaining. Congrats."

Gwen stared at him in disbelief.

"Next step," Jack continued, "we work with UNIT. We show ourselves to be cooperative. We want the Sycorax gone, but we want to do it our way, not theirs."

"Meaning?" Gwen asked, her brow furrowed. "How are our ways different? We kill, too."

"We don't kill as a prophylaxis," Jack answered. "We ask them what they want, we see what we can do for them, we let Tosh work her magic. Several ships were reported, we've got no means to shoot them all down at once anyway, so we'll have to play nice. We scare them off with Tosh's genius." He saw Tosh blush and nodded at her. "If they realize we can interfere with their blood device, they might think twice about attacking."

Gwen let out a breath. "Okay. We play nice unless we can't."

"It's what the Doctor would do," Jack said. "Owen stays away for now. Ianto will stay in the guest quarters, but I will give Archie a call and ask him to come in."

"He's on his way," Gwen said quietly. Jack looked at her in surprise and she crossed her arms defensively. "I couldn't stand seeing Ianto like that. So I made the call."

Jack stared at her for a long moment and Gwen took a tiny step back. He waited a moment longer, then he nodded. Gwen's relieved sigh was clearly audible. Jack's phone started to ring and he looked at the caller ID. "That's UNIT, telling me when they will arrive." He gave a small grin. "Gwen, be so kind and prepare some snacks for our guests. Tosh, set up the boardroom."

"What will you do?" Gwen asked.

"I'll be standing here, looking bossy." He winked at her, trying to convey more self-confidence than he was feeling. "It's a good look on me."

xxx

By the time UNIT reached the Hub, it was just after six in the morning. Jack felt glad that sleep wasn't a necessity anymore, but he had to make sure that Gwen and Tosh wouldn't crash. At the moment, both of them were still running on adrenaline but he would keep an eye on them.

Aside from two soldiers who only seemed to be an escort, Stephen Nowak, Major Ewan Wells and, much to Jack's annoyance, Colonel Pete Thompson were the representatives sent to them. "What are you doing here?" Jack asked Thompson. "The investigation concerning Ianto Jones was put on hold."

Thompson sneered, his green eyes narrowing angrily. "I know. But as soon as we fixed this mess, it will be up and running again and I want to be here when that happens." He looked around in disdain. "I wouldn't want Mr. Jones to vanish under mysterious circumstances."

Jack gave Stephen a dark look, who had the decency to look slightly embarrassed. "He insisted on coming, Jack. Let it go."

Jack was hardly prepared to do so, hardly okay with Ianto's prosecutor walking around the Hub, but Gwen put a hand on his arm and stepped forward. "Let's get started then," she suggested and nodded up to the boardroom where Tosh was waiting.

"Let's," Stephen said, looking relieved. And Jack had no other choice but to accept the situation … at least for now.

xxx

"How many ships?" Jack asked, once Wells had relayed how UNIT had found the Sycorax ships.

They were all sitting around the boardroom table. Only the two soldiers were standing guard at the door, their hands folded on their backs. Jack didn't quite know what to think about this, as Torchwood was secure enough for UNIT not to have to worry. In their eyes, it might be a demonstration of power, in his eyes, it was a provocation.

However, he was relieved to realize that their commanding officer seemed to be Wells and not Thompson.

Jack turned his chair to look at the flat screen on the wall showing several blurry pictures of Sycorax ships in the space around Earth. It was hard to tell from the picture how many there were, just that it was more than they could handle.

"Roughly a dozen," Wells answered, looking at the flat screen as well with an earnest expression on his face. Jack found himself trusting him easily. He was competent and calm. Quite the opposite from Thompson, who seemed grim and resentful about being here. Wells got up and stepped closer to the screen. "As you can see, they surrounded us, so they're not even close enough together to get them with one shot. We could have handled that, probably, with a bit of inventive thinking but ..." He looked at Jack. "Our scientists don't hold out much hope to be able to find something that will take them out all at once and we can't risk shooting only one or two of them. The reaction would be without a doubt lethal."

"We can't risk it," Jack said with a nod. "That much is obvious. And we have to assume that they've got blood control." He stood and crossed his arms, coming to stand behind Tosh who had her laptop open before her. In one corner of it, the CCTV footage from Ianto's room was playing. He was lying in bed, asleep ... or maybe not. "Which is even worse. They could kill millions of people with just one push of a button."

Stephen nodded. "But you also said that you might be able to do something against that particular threat, didn't you?"

"Not me," Jack answered and put a hand on Tosh's shoulder. "Toshiko is working on it."

Tosh cleared her throat. "I was working on a solution the last time the Sycorax showed up but wasn't fast enough to finish the programme in time. I kept working on it, though. I could intercept the signal of the blood control device."

Jack noticed Wells looking intrigued at the idea and smiled proudly. He squeezed Tosh's shoulder and then let go, leaving her to return to his seat at the head of the table. Gwen gave him a slight nod and he breathed a sigh of relief. Tosh still had problems to be around UNIT after her imprisonment in one of their facilities, but she was slowly regaining confidence and this would certainly go a long way. He turned his attention back to her.

"The only problem is, I don't know where the signal will emanate from, since there are several ships. I'd need one burst of it to intercept it in time."

Thompson frowned. "They won't provide that for our convenience."

Jack bit back an annoyed answer ... after all, he was right.

Tosh didn't falter. "No, but I think I can react fast enough. As soon as they activate the device, I should be able to block the signal."

Thompson frowned. "Should? This device has the potential to kill people instantly," he growled. "I know they sent them up to the rooftops as a threat last time, but they might not wait around to do that this time."

Tosh met his gaze head on. "I am aware of that."

Gwen leaned forward. "She's working on it."

Thompson looked at her with something akin to disgust. Gwen's expression remained completely neutral. She just settled back in her chair again, brushing her dark hair behind her ears. Thompson shook his head and turned to look at Jack. "It would only be fair for Torchwood to fix this mess, considering you got us into it in the first place."

Jack ground his teeth to keep himself from yelling. "Torchwood One might have messed up, not us."

"Torchwood is Torchwood, Captain. Just because One did it doesn't mean you are better than them."

Stephen raised his hands placatingly. "I don't think this is helping. We have to work together."

For a moment, it was silent, then Thompson leaned back in his chair and raised his eyebrows at Wells, who'd been watching the exchange silently. "Let's get back to work then," Thompson said.

Wells nodded hastily. "We tried to contact the Sycorax and talk to them but we can't get through."

Jack chuckled. "They will set the pace. They want us to sit and wait on this end of the line. And why shouldn't we? They've got the best cards at the moment." He looked at the grainy pictures thoughtfully. "So let's think about what they want for a moment. They said they want the one responsible for their king's death."

Thompson sneered. "Which would be Yvonne Hartmann and by extension Torchwood One and by extension Torchwood Three."

Wells frowned. "What if it's the Doctor they want?"

Jack answered, "The Doctor didn't pull the trigger and they wouldn't be stupid enough to go after him like this. They might not have been aware of who exactly he was the first time around, but I think they did their homework in the meantime. Everyone knows that you shouldn't cross a Time Lord."

Thompson cleared his throat. "Which brings us back to Torchwood."

Stephen gave him a warning glare. "We're not going down that road."

Before Thompson could answer, Wells said, "We're forgetting someone in all this."

The questioning silence that followed made Tosh's soft answer stand out all the more. "Harriet Jones."

"The only person who could tell us what was really going on that day."

Thompson shook his head. "She refused to speak to UNIT. Never gave a full report."

"All the more reason to talk to her. She's the only one we've got left."

Shaking his head, Stephen asked, "What about her PA? He could-"

"With her career, his went down the drain as well," Thompson interrupted him. "He was the one giving hints about her instability. Held his face in every camera that would listen for about three days, then the media lost interest and moved on. He couldn't get a job as a PA anymore after. Everyone knew him as the man who'd betrayed his boss and who would hire someone like that?" He paused for a moment, then – almost with a shrug – added, "Killed himself."

The silence that enveloped the table upon this was heavy.

"So," Jack finally said, folding his hands, "Harriet Jones it is. Can you get into contact with her?"

Wells cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. "There is a problem with that: She went off the grid."

"You can't find her?" That was surprising. UNIT had almost unlimited resources.

Wells shook his head. "She must have still had some friends … she went into hiding."

Jack looked at Tosh and she nodded. "I'll try and find her."

Thompson snorted. "We didn't find her."

"Tosh will," Jack replied.

xxx

Jack smiled when Ianto opened his eyes and blinked sleepily. "Hey," he said softly and brushed the hair off Ianto's forehead. "I've given you something to block certain parts of your brain. It might be difficult for you to form any kind of emotion. It probably feels like you were sedated. It'll wear off though."

Ianto didn't answer, he just looked at Jack blankly. Jack knew that he'd understood him, he was just unable to express an opinion about it.

Jack's smile grew sad, he rested his hand in the curve of Ianto's neck. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Will that keep him under control?" someone asked from the door.

Jack froze, recognizing the voice, and then turned to glare at Thompson angrily. "You're not allowed down here," he snapped, getting up and in Thompson's way, forcing him to retreat to the door. "Stay away from him."

Deftly, Thompson walked around Jack and towards the bed. If he kept his hands folded on his back out of habit or because he wanted to make a statement, Jack didn't quite know, but it stopped him from hauling Thompson out of the room by the lapels of his green uniform. Thompson looked down at Ianto in interest. "Is he alright?"

Jack pushed in-between them. "He will be, now get out."

Thompson looked at him, his green eyes narrowed. "Captain, I think you misunderstand my role in this."

"Oh, I understand," Jack replied heatedly. "I understand very well that you want Ianto to end up in one of your prisons, tortured and locked away for life, like you lot were planning to do with Toshiko Sato."

Thompson took a step back and frowned. "I'm just the investigator. It's not my job to show sympathy. I need to be sure that there's no danger to the planet."

"There is no danger to the planet. Take it from me."

Thompson looked at him for a long moment, then he gave a small nod. "Prove it."

xxx

Jack didn't quite know why he led Thompson all the way down to the archives, past the locked doors and into one of the rooms only he had the code to. It was located at the very back, hidden away in a dark corner. Ianto knew it existed but he'd only ever asked once for the code to enter and never asked again after Jack had said it was private. Jack hadn't chosen this room several decades ago because it was tucked away, but because it was one of the few rooms down here that weren't damp.

It had never been a room he'd lived in or anything like the room he'd shared with Matthew ... this was a private archive of a kind.

And now he let a stranger have a look at it.

He switched on the light and let Thompson step inside. The lamps hardly did most of the things down here justice. They belonged in a place where soft, gentle light would keep them safe instead of the jarring, clinic feeling the neon lights gave the room.

There was a filing cabinet filled with copies of Jack's files, accumulated over decades and neatly locked away. There was a cupboard with clothes he'd worn and clothes he'd loved – his own, a cardigan Estelle had forgotten at his flat once, a pink evening dress Eveline had worn once, Matthew's dark coat and so many more. Pieces he'd kept of his lovers and families and friends, stowed away in boxes that were resting in a corner, next to Michael's cradle filled with Alice's stuffed toys.

Thompson ignored all these things, focusing on the one thing that Jack had told the others was destroyed. However, the incinerator had been unable to harm the conversion unit or the parts that had been attached to Lisa and now, they were here, in a corner, away from Jack's other, private things.

Thompson stared at the pile for a moment, then he brushed a slightly shaky hand through his black hair.

Jack said, "That's all that's left. He only brought her and the conversion unit here. She was incinerated, this is what remained."

Thompson looked at the device, at the parts, and back at Jack. "How did he do it?"

"He hid her away, down here in the basement. For approximately three months. I didn't know. Nobody did. Until it went south with Tanazaki' arrival."

Thompson's eyes widened in surprise. "Dr. Tanazaki … he was involved?"

"He died. It was his own fault. He messed with things he shouldn't have." Jack shoved his hands in his trouser pockets and stepped next to Thompson, looking at the conversion unit. "I put Ianto through the motions after: Lie detector test, suspension … he was completely honest by telling me he didn't remove anything else from the tower. He even tried to help us defeat her when she got out of control."

Thompson shook his head, the same disbelief edged on his strict face that Jack had seen in the expressions of his team the night Lisa broke out. "Why did he do it?"

"He loved her. Love blinds people. He knows better now, accepted responsibility." Jack stared at Thompson sharply. "I took care of it."

Thompson touched the device carefully. "He managed to bring this down here … alone?"

"There's something you need to understand about Ianto: He's very determined, very smart, an exceptionally fast learner. And he made a mistake, just like I've done. Just like you've done. He managed to evade UNIT after the battle, he managed to distract me from his secret and he took full responsibility for it afterwards. Imprisoning him can't be the solution here."

Thompson shook his head, his face hardening. "Tell me the solution then. What am I supposed to say? Case closed? It's not as easy as that."

"He's an empath. Even trained, prison would kill him eventually. It's execution and I thought UNIT didn't do execution."

"His empathy is what could get him out of this."

"He won't become a lab rat and he won't go to prison, either. Not as long as I'm breathing."

Thompson looked at him in surprise. "I would have thought that you of all people-"

"You don't know me," Jack interrupted him.

Thompson glared at him. "And you don't know me. I'm not the enemy here, Captain."

"You're not?"

"I'm just following orders."

"Nice excuse."

There was a long moment of silent tension, where Thompson just looked at him, then he gave a brittle smile. "We knew you would react this way. After what happened in Newport, I'm even inclined to believe you, but I also speak for those among us who lost someone they loved in that battle when I say that this isn't over. Mr. Jones's empathic abilities are interesting to us. We've been doing research but we never found someone as gifted as him. It's not exactly something you can look for test subjects for." Jack frowned and crossed his arms. Thompson stepped closer. "I would eventually find a way to imprison him without repeating what went wrong in Newport, believe me. Unfortunately, I was ordered to find an alternative if necessary. We've got scientists eager to have a look at Mr. Jones and if he'd be willing to work with us … maybe we could come to an understanding."

Jack stared at him, knowing he'd walked into a trap but having no idea how to get out. Carefully, he replied, "We might."


	12. Chapter 12

**11.**

Thompson was already on his way back upstairs, Jack finishing locking up the room with the conversion unit, when Tosh's voice sounded through his earpiece. _"Jack, we've got contact. They're on our screen."_

By the time Jack reached the boardroom, Wells and Thompson were already standing before the screen, talking to the Sycorax. Jack didn't waste any time being diplomatic or careful, he just took a moment before he entered the boardroom and thus the view of the Sycorax. Then he opened the door determinedly and entered, interrupting Wells mid-sentence. "Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood. You might not be aware of it but you are currently showing aggression towards a planet protected by a Time Lord." Everyone's attention shifted to him, Wells and Thompson frowning in disapproval. He caught Gwen out of the corner of his eye, hiding a smile behind her hand, something Tosh didn't bother to do while she pretended to focus on her laptop. Jack stepped up next to Wells and Thompson, past Stephen who was staring at him in warning. He put his hands on his hips, glaring at the group of Sycorax crowded on the flat screen. "This planet is furthermore under protection of the Shadow Proclamation, since it's a world with no understanding of the workings of the universe. Humankind barely made the first steps."

The answer was subtitled but Jack didn't need to read it. He knew the language well enough. Out of courtesy to the others present, he'd chosen to speak English, knowing the Sycorax had translator software. The Sycorax in the center of the group was speaking, his voice deep and cutting. _"They are advanced enough to kill hundreds of our kind."_

"After provocation," Jack corrected. "What is the reasons for you provoking a Time Lord now?"

"_Titles do not scare us, no matter how often you repeat them. We are well aware of a Time Lord's connection to this planet. Out tryst is not with him. It is humankind we have come to see as a bane."_

"Who doesn't?" Jack asked. "Look at them." He nodded at Thompson and Wells. "Barely advanced enough to reach Mars and already, they feel they're the kings of this universe."

There was more than one indignant huff to be heard and Wells glared at Jack. "Captain-"

"But they're children compared to you," Jack finished his sentence, ignoring Wells completely who turned away with a muttered curse and started a soft, heated discussion with Stephen behind Jack.

The Sycorax laughed and their leader said, _"You speak like you are not one of them, human."_

Jack stepped closer to the screen, recognizing intricate carvings in the skeletal helmet of the leader, signifying not only his position as the fleet's commander, but also that he was more than that. Only a family with a lot of influence could afford these carvings, as the bones of the huge animal the helmets were made of were very hard to work on. Plus, the furs and the red cape he was wearing were clearly of good quality, decorated with finely carved bones and teeth. He had to be rich … and thus, very educated.

Jack smiled. He switched to the Sycorax's language. "I'm sure a man of your position knows about the Shadow Proclamation's enforcers? I'm one of them. I'm a Time Agent. Think about whether that title means anything to you for a minute."

The Sycorax crowded around their leader shifted nervously. The leader, though, didn't seem impressed. _"Then you have no right to interfere-"_

"I adopted this world as my home. I have very right." He tilted his head. "A Time Lord is more powerful than I am, but bound by rules. A Time Agent doesn't adhere to quite the same set of rules. I'm sure you know that."

For a long moment, there was silence. Jack couldn't tell whether he'd made an impression because the helmet hid the leader's face, but finally, he replied, _"We want what is ours."_

Jack slipped back into English. "What would that be?"

"_Revenge for our king's life. It is our right to ask for that. Your king's life for our king's life."_

Jack shrugged. "We don't exactly have a king."

"_Any royalty will do."_

"We don't exactly have that kind of royals."

"_Who is ruling your world?"_

"Officially? Politicians."

"_Then we want one of them."_

"No can do."

"_You have twenty-four hours to reconsider. We will start killing then."_ The Sycorax vanished, the screen going blank before the images of the fleet around the planet re-appeared.

Jack turned to the others.

Thompson asked, "What did you say to them?"

"Nothing special. I just wanted to make it clear to them that I understand their language," Jack said. His gaze shifted to Wells and Stephen, who were looking at him questioningly. "They're right, you know? By their law, they have every right to ask for another life as revenge. They value their royals very highly."

Wells snorted. "That might be their law, not ours."

Jack looked at Tosh. "Did you find Harriet Jones?"

She immediately started typing. "Yes, here." She pointed at her screen.

While Jack stepped around the table towards her, Wells shook his head. "Impossible. We didn't find her and we had our best people looking for her."

"Tosh is better than your guys," Jack replied and looked over her shoulder at the address. His eyes widened. "Seriously?"

She nodded.

"I've been there before," Jack said. "I know that address."

xxx

Gwen watched Jack put on his coat and couldn't stop herself from saying, "I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not," Jack answered. His voice was gentle, just like his blue eyes. He pocketed the car keys and the note with Harriet Jones's address. "I'll go alone."

Gwen frowned and crossed her arms. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Jack paused and looked at her questioningly. "Why not? She's just one woman. I want to ask her some questions, that's all. Maybe bring her back here, depending on what her answers are."

"You won't hand her over, will you?" Gwen asked. "If she ordered Torchwood One to shoot."

Jack holstered his Webley. "No." He shook his head. "All I want is to resolve this peacefully and if we can do this by letting her talk to the Sycorax and explain her reasons in person, then I'm all for it."

Gwen was doubtful. She glanced through the windows of Jack's office up towards the brightly-lit windows of the boardroom. "The Sycorax are hell-bent on revenge."

Jack nodded. "I know." He sighed and leaned back against his desk. "And something's still rubbing me all wrong about this. I need some time to think. I can use the drive to London." He smiled at her. "You stay here, you're my 2IC. Let them feel that. Keep Ianto in his room for now and don't let anyone from UNIT get near him. Archie will arrive in a few hours. All you need to do is lead him to Ianto and he'll do the rest."

Gwen nodded but she swallowed nervously. The thought of Jack driving to London and leaving her in charge scared her a bit.

Jack seemed to know what she was thinking, because he dropped a kiss on her forehead. "You'll do great," he said confidently. Then he smiled and left with a whirl of his coat.


	13. Chapter 13

**12.**

Two hours later, Jack stared out the windshield, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel of the black Torchwood SUV. The block of flats looked dreary and bleak in the grey December morning. A few teenager boys were kicking a football around in-between the rows of garages while some girls their age watched them from a distance, giggling among themselves and sharing a cigarette. Jack raised his head to look at the rows of flats, stacked next to and one over the other. It was hard to believe that a former PM was living here but Tosh's intel was rarely ever wrong. With a deep sigh, he shifted in the seat and finally got out.

He hadn't been lying. He'd been here before, mostly just sitting in his car or watching from the sidelines while a little blonde girl grew up to become a woman. He hadn't been here since Canary Wharf. Her name on the list of casualties had been a shock, but it hadn't just been Rose who'd been on it. He stared up at the flat where Jackie Tyler had once lived, by now surely let to someone else. He'd never really met Rose's mother, just talked to her once or twice to ask for directions or to hand her a tissue after her husband's funeral, but it had still hurt when he'd seen her name beneath that of her daughter. It had felt like he'd lost his last connection to Rose - the girl who'd taken a chance on him during the Blitz and who'd taken him on-board the TARDIS despite the Doctor's doubts.

Another person lost he'd loved dearly.

He shook the sad thoughts off and took the lift to the fourth floor, looking for the correct flat. He heard a kettle whistle through the door and, knowing for sure that Harriet Jones was in, he knocked.

Opening the door was a woman he only recognized after looking twice. Her once brown, shoulder-length hair was dyed blonde, her face tired and the lines around her lips grim. This woman had clearly gone through hell. She was no longer the woman people liked and trusted at first glance, the PM who'd led Britain to a Golden Age. This was a woman people only had to look at once to know that she wanted to be left alone. She raised one eyebrow at him, clearly not impressed by his vintage military coat. "Yes?"

Jack gave her a charming smile. "Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood." Her eyes widened and, immediately, she tried to slam the door, but Jack was faster and got his foot in. He pushed the door open, sending her tumbling backwards and caught her arm before she could fall. Casually, he added, "We need to talk."

xxx

The alarms started shrieking, startling everyone in the boardroom. Gwen looked at Tosh quizzically, catching her alarmed expression. Everyone who should be in the Hub was there. Jack wasn't supposed to be back for another three hours at least and Owen was at home. Gwen got up and stepped to the window of the boardroom, looking down at the ground floor of the main Hub where the cogwheel door was slowly rolling open. A man entered. Neither Owen, nor Jack.

Gwen hurried outside towards the spiral staircase, pulling her gun from the waistband of her jeans. She heard steps behind her and realized that the two soldiers had probably picked up on her alarm and were now lending support. She stopped half-way down the stairs, pointing her gun at the intruder. "Hold it right there!"

He looked up at her with an irritated frown, blue eyes narrowing at the sight of her gun. The shock of white hair, the golden glasses and the baggy, dark-brown coat hardly disguised the fact that he was broad-shouldered and far from a frail old man. "Don't you worry, little girl. Archie's here to help."

Gwen lowered her weapon, but didn't tuck it away. She descended the stairs quickly. "You're Archie McIntyre?" There was hardly any doubt of course. Gwen had heard from Owen that Archie spoke of himself in the third person and he had the entry codes to the Hub. The thick Scottish accent was another dead give-away. She'd always thought, though, that he would be smaller, thinner ... more a librarian than the strong man standing before her.

"Archie did just so say so, didn't he?" He looked around. "Now, where's the lad?"

"Ianto's-"

"Archie means Jack," he interrupted her rudely and then glanced up at the walkway outside the boardroom. His frown reappeared and his lips thinned in disapproval. "You letting UNIT play soldier in your Hub now?"

"We're facing a crisis," Gwen explained. "Sycorax trying to get their way. It's a planetary threat, we're working together with UNIT."

"They're useless," Archie said loud enough for the UNIT representatives to hear.

Wells immediately bristled and started down the spiral staircase. "Who are you to judge our competency? You sit in your peaceful little archive in Glasgow, having no idea what is going on in the world-"

Archie interrupted him. "Arrogant little boys eager to please their fathers, that's what you are. As if the planet needed any more military organisations."

"We were founded because Torchwood couldn't cope alone!"

"You were founded to become yet another pain in our arses-"

"Okay!" Gwen said loudly, raising her hands. Her voice echoed in the cavernous main Hub, silencing everyone and letting quiet descend until the trickling of the water down the sculpture was all that was to hear. Gwen took a deep breath. "Well, now that the ice is broken," she gave Archie and Wells a glare, "shall we proceed with the matters at hand?"

xxx

Tosh pulled her cardigan tighter around herself while she led Archie down the corridor towards the guest quarters. It was always slightly chilly down here and the air smelled damp.

She glanced at the man beside her. The brown coat looked like it had gone through a lot and the black leather bag in his hand looked heavy and old-fashioned. This was the first time Tosh had met the infamous Archie McIntyre in person. He'd been with Torchwood for longer than anyone could tell and apparently, he'd taken over the job from his father. He was the only one left manning Torchwood Two and was well-known for his gruff manners. However, Tosh couldn't help but like him.

Now, he looked around appreciatively and gave a nod. "This is good. Isolated." He looked at Tosh. "Make sure nobody comes down here. What the girl upstairs described sounded a lot like he's over-sensitive at the moment."

"Jack gave him some kind of drug," Tosh said and stopped outside Ianto's door.

"Because Jack's a smart lad," Archie answered. "Archie trained him well." He checked his watch. "Be a good lass and get Archie and Ianto something to eat down here in five hours."

Tosh glanced at Ianto's door carefully. "Is it safe then for me to come down here?"

Archie looked at her, one thick eyebrow raised. "My lass, Archie said so, didn't he?" With that, he opened the door and went inside.

Tosh stood outside for a moment longer, then took a breath and went back upstairs.

xxx

Harriet Jones shook her head, stirring her tea nervously. "It doesn't concern me."

Jack crossed his arms and leaned back against the doorframe of the kitchen. The flat was tiny and looked like there had been a lot of tenants living in it over the years ... but Harriet had still managed to make it cosy with plush furniture and no small amount of taste. It was inviting ... unlike her. Jack glared at her. "It very well does. Somehow, the matter was dropped a year ago but it's coming back and biting us in the ass right now. We need to know what happened."

She put her mug down with some force, sloshing tea on the counter. She didn't seem to care, though, pointing her finger at him angrily. "It ruined my career!"

"I frankly don't care what it did to you! I want to know what happened."

She scoffed. "Do you think I want to live here? In this block of flats? It's the only place nobody recognizes me. It's the only place I can find peace, oddly enough, but I hate it! I hate it so much!" There were tears in her eyes and her shoulders sagged. Pulling her cardigan tight around herself, she crossed her arms. "There's no perspective here, no passion, just ..." She ducked her head.

Jack swallowed, feeling sympathy for her. Despite the business with the Sycorax, Harriet had been a good PM and he'd liked her. He still did. "You would be surprised," he said gently, "about the amount of perspective you can find here." He gave a tiny smile when she looked at him. "You'd be surprised how far a girl born here got, what she saw, who she met ..."

Harriet shook her head. "I can't help you. It's over and done with. In a few years, I can go and find myself a house or something, maybe do some consulting."

"In a few years, the human race could have been changed beyond recognition because of what's happening right now."

"I don't care!"

"How can you not?!" Jack asked heatedly. "How can you not care?"

"It's not my responsibility to fix what the Doctor destroyed! I don't even manage to do that with my own life."

Jack shook his head in disbelief. "So what? The Doctor destroyed your life? I find that hard to believe."

"You better believe it. This ...," she said, waving at the window, "... invasion … it's his fault."

"Then explain this to me," Jack said, pulling a small stack of print-outs from his coat pocket and dropping them on the kitchen table.

Harriet stepped closer but didn't make any move to really look at them. "What is that?"

"Readings my technician took back then and pictures of the ship." He spread the pint-outs out and pointed at the first one. "They were leaving," he said, pointing at one picture after another, where Tosh's neat handwriting indicated the distance of the ships to the planet – growing with every snapshot. At last, he pointed to the final picture: A ball of fire. "And then Torchwood shot."

Harriet turned away. "The Doctor gave the order."

"I don't believe that for a moment!" He slapped his palm on the pictures, watching Harriet jump and pull up her shoulders. "Look me in the eye and tell me the truth! Was it Torchwood? Was it you?" She was shaking with silent sobs and Jack walked around her, putting a hand on her shoulder and softening his voice. "Look, I know the Doctor is not perfect. He left me behind," he said, "as if I didn't matter. I gave my life for him, but he left me when I needed him most. He does that." He swallowed against his sadness and then shook his head with determination. "What he doesn't do is this. Getting ships to turn around and then shoot them in the back. That is human." Harriet wiped her eyes and looked up at him miserably. Jack let the silence settle for a moment, then he asked, "What did he do?"

She seemed to hesitate, as if she didn't quite know if she could trust him. Then she tucked a blonde strand of hair behind her ear and nodded. "He started a rumour."

Jack looked at her, waiting patiently.

"He punished me," Harriet whispered. "For ordering this." She turned to nod at the pictures. Slowly, she picked one of them up and looked at the ship. "I probably deserve this." She dropped the print-out and sighed deeply. Then, she fixed him with a curious look. "Why did he leave you?"

Jack swallowed. He didn't really want to talk about it but he'd started it and there was no going back now. "He never really wanted me in the first place," he said and sat in one the chairs. "He likes to surround himself with good people."

"And you're not one of them?"

Jack gave a bitter smile. "I guess I'm not." He shook off his sadness to focus back on the matter at hand. "Help us. Come back to Cardiff with me. Let's work this out." He took her hand and squeezed. "Let's make it up to him."

Harriet hesitated for a long moment, then she nodded.

xxx

Gwen told herself resolutely that she wasn't hiding. She was, after all, sitting in plain sight on the couch in the main Hub. The boardroom had become too crowded for her. Her and Tosh had decided to leave UNIT to themselves for lunch. Tosh was taking a walk around the bay and Gwen had phoned her parents. Talking to somebody who wasn't aware of the danger the planet was in had been good. She could have missed out on her mother's hints about grandchildren but since Rhys and her were not talking to each other for a reason that still eluded her, she'd called her parents.

Now, she was watching Wells and Thompson pace the boardroom while Nowak was sitting still, pensive. One of the soldiers - the bloke - was still seated at the table, eating. And his female comrade ...

Gwen frowned, then got up, slightly alarmed. Where was ...

"Miss Cooper?"

Startled, she turned her head to find the female soldier looking at her. "Sorry to disturb you, ma'am, but the water tap in the ladies room is leaking quite a bit."

"I know," Gwen said with a smile, relieved to have her in her sights again. Jack might be a bit paranoid where UNIT was concerned but with Ianto down in the guest quarters and Thompson up in the boardroom - seemingly determined to make a case against him -, she couldn't be careful enough in Jack's absence. Her eyes strayed to the soldier's name tag. She felt a bit bad for not being interested in her name sooner but then again, her and her comrade had been nothing more than silent figures in the background until now. "Lt. Wilson," she said and stepped closer, "you can call me Gwen."

Wilson's friendly face broke into a bright smile, slightly crooked teeth showing. She quickly became serious again, though, and blushed slightly, as if her smile was embarrassing to herself. Gwen couldn't fathom why. She was a sweet-looking girl. Not the kind of woman men tended to notice first, but certainly the kind of woman people could rely on.

Wilson tucked a strand of black hair that had come loose back under her beret with a practised move and answered, "I'm Natasha." She looked up at the men behind the windows of the boardroom one level above them and Gwen followed her gaze when she sighed deeply.

She understood Natasha too well. "Rather a lot of testosterone up there, am I right?"

Natasha chuckled. "Yeah. I mean ..." She folded her hands on her back. "It's not too bad."

"Still, can't be easy having to be tough all the time."

Natasha just shrugged. "It's a privilege, working for UNIT. A real chance. And Major Wells, he's a good CO."

"He brought you with him. He must see potential in you."

"I certainly hope so." She looked away and then back at Gwen, almost hesitantly. Her dark eyes seemed brighter suddenly and she was blushing slightly. When she spoke, Gwen knew why. "Captain Harkness ... he seems like a good CO."

Gwen couldn't help but grin. Jack's charm and looks never failed to impress, even when he wasn't trying to be charming or appealing. "He is. Most of the time." She winked. "Not always, though. He's only male after all."

Natasha laughed.

"What the fuck is going on here?"

Surprised at the cold voice behind her, Gwen turned around to the corridor leading down to the garage to see Owen standing there. Gwen was shocked at his haggard appearance and quickly stepped closer, ensuring that nobody in the boardroom had noticed him yet. She grabbed his arm and pulled him along back into the corridor, noticing how easy it was to manhandle him ... and that he smelled of alcohol. She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "What are you doing here? You're suspended."

"So?"

Gwen saw Natasha looking their way curiously and stepped closer to Owen, lowering her voice. "So you stay at home."

"Nobody tells me what to do," he hissed. "Certainly not you."

She shook her head. "You won't be of much help anyway, Owen, you've been drinking."

She noticed his eyes focussing on something to their side and turned her head to Natasha, who was looking at them with a frown. Owen bared his teeth at her. "So, won't I get an answer? What's going on here?"

"I'm not sure if I should tell you."

"And who are you to decide that?!"

Gwen took a step back when Owen got into her face. She saw Natasha move towards them out of the corner of her eye and raised a hand to stop her, staring at Owen. "Jack's 2IC."

Owen snorted. "Well, this proves Jack's thinking with his cock."

"Unlike you?" She held his gaze. "Go home now and I won't mention to Jack that you were here."

"I'm staying!"

"You're going!" She pushed him down the corridor. "Now!" He stumbled and fell and Gwen felt sorry immediately, but stopped herself from helping him up. "You're drunk, Owen. We don't need you here like this." She saw tears in his eyes and steeled her resolve. She wouldn't give in to her emotions now. "Go," she said, softer. "I'm going to stop by as soon as I can."

"Don't bother," Owen spat and got to his feet. "I certainly won't shag you again!"

"I don't need you to!"

"Right! Not with your perfect boyfriend waiting at home!" He stormed off.

Gwen looked after him for a long moment, then she remembered Natasha and turned around to her. Natasha was looking at her, biting her lip as if she was stopping herself from saying something. Realizing that this almost-stranger now knew one of her worst secrets, Gwen felt heat shoot into her cheeks.

"I won't tell," Natasha said softly. "None of it. The others don't need to know that he was here."

"He's having a rough time," Gwen said. "That's all."

She pushed past Natasha and hurried back to the boardroom.


	14. Chapter 14

**13.**

"I've seen pictures of this place," Harriet Jones said when she entered the Hub with Jack. She looked around curiously and Jack watched her taking in the cavernous main room, the boardroom and hothouse one level up and the many corridors branching off, all wrapped up in a patchwork of brick stone, tiles and concrete. Harriet gave a timid smile. "But they seem rather … understated."

Jack smiled proudly. "No picture can do this justice." He noticed Tosh looking at him through the windows of the boardroom and gave her a wave before he focused on Gwen, who hurried down the stairs towards them. Her face was worried and drawn, her dark hair tied back haphazardly. Jack was concerned that he was putting too much pressure on the girls, but there was no other possibility at the moment.

Gwen gave him a quick hug and he made sure to squeeze her to him tightly to reassure her. She smiled at him tiredly. "Thank God, you're back." She glanced at Harriet, her green eyes widening a bit. She was probably just as surprised at her change in appearance as he was. "Miss Jones."

Harriet nodded in greeting, holding out her hand which Gwen shook.

Jack took over the introductions. "This is Gwen Cooper, one of my agents."

Gwen cleared her throat. "Jack, I need to talk to you." Her eyes flitted to Harriet. "In private."

Her tone put him on edge immediately and he looked at Harriet. "I'll be just a minute."

She nodded her understanding and, while Jack led Gwen to his office, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her coat and looked around some more. Jack kept an eye on her through the windows of his office. She seemed a bit forlorn, as if all this was new to her. The end of her political career had certainly broken something in her.

With a sigh, he shrugged out of his coat and dropped it over the back of his chair, brushing his hands through his hair. "What is it?"

Gwen had crossed her arms. "Archie's here and he's been down with Ianto for a few hours now. Tosh is supposed to bring them supper soon."

"Tosh?" Jack asked, frowning.

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason ..." Jack smiled. He cleared his throat. "I'll bring them something. Not necessary for Tosh to walk all the way down." He would have to have a talk with Archie. He thought he knew what he intended to do, but there was no way Jack would let him.

"Okay," Gwen said, but she looked like she wasn't really satisfied with the answer. It was scary how well that woman could read him. Her and Ianto were masters at it. She let out a breath. "We haven't heard from the Sycorax, either."

"The twenty-four hours aren't up, yet. We'll hear from them."

"What exactly is your plan?"

Jack smiled ruefully. "I do what I do best: I'm winging it. Did you get my text about the file on the Sycorax?"

"I tried to find it. Then Tosh tried."

"Tried?"

"There's none. None were opened here in Three and Tosh said that some of One's databases were badly damaged during the attack and a lot of files were lost. The Sycorax file being one of them."

"Damn," Jack said and closed his eyes. "Damn!"

"What are you looking for?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. Something's off, can't put my finger on it. I was hoping for a hint ... doesn't matter. Let's get back to work." He started for the door, but noticed that Gwen seemed intent on saying something else. He stopped in front of her. "What is it?"

She took a breath and opened her mouth ... but then shook her head. "Nothing."

"Gwen." He took her shoulders, making her look at him.

She ducked her head. "Owen was here."

Jack closed his eyes and cursed.

"I'm really worried about him, Jack. He's drinking way too much, he's aggressive, I ..." She bit her lip. "I might have handled the situation wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"I yelled at him, I pushed him, I ..." She wiped her eyes and sobbed.

Jack pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head. "Listen. It's not your fault."

She pulled away and wiped her cheeks angrily. "How can it not be my fault?" she asked, incredulous. "I treated him-"

"He's an empath."

Gwen stared at him.

"And his emotions are all over the place. When he's feeling something very strongly, he projects it. It's nothing of the scale Ianto is able to do right now, but it's enough to fuel your emotions because you're very open. Happens to me as well." He shrugged.

Gwen let out a breath and shook her head. "Damn it, Jack ... he doesn't know, does he?"

Jack shook his head.

Gwen laughed bitterly. "Okay," she said. "Right, not the time or the place to go into that right now."

"Yeah," Jack said softly, feeling chastened all the same. Gwen took a deep breath. Jack asked, "Alright?"

She nodded. "Sure."

"Good." He waited for her to look at him. "I need you right now, Gwen, yeah?"

She nodded again and squared her shoulders. "I'm here."

Jack smiled proudly. "I know you are." He sighed and looked at Harriet, who was still standing in the main Hub, waiting. "Let's explain to everyone what happened back then."

xxx

Wells narrowed his eyes at Harriet, crossing his arms. "So, it's safe to say that we've got the one responsible."

Tosh saw Harriet get tense in her chair. She was staring at the table, as she had been ever since she'd finished her report about what had happened a year ago that had led to her giving the order to shoot the Sycorax from the sky. Jack was standing behind Harriet like a guardian angel, with Gwen flanking him. He nodded at Wells.

Wells shrugged and looked at Thompson. "We could give the Sycorax what they want."

Gwen looked scandalized. "No, we could not! If you think that ..."

Jack put a hand on her back and she faltered. Harriet's hands were balled to fists and she looked ready to bolt. Tosh suspected that only Jack's presence was keeping her sitting at all.

Nowak looked just as shocked as Gwen, his hazel eyes widened incredulously. "Ewan, how can you even suggest that?"

Thompson cleared his throat. "I agree. We shouldn't give in to the Sycorax."

Gwen scoffed. "As if that is the only reason not to hand her over."

Jack's voice was calm. "We won't hand her over."

Wells leaned back in his chair, rubbing a hand down his tired face. "Sorry. Of course not."

Jack acknowledged that with a nod. "I brought her to talk to them. Sycorax are intelligent beings. We can take a shot at making them understand. We should try and solve this situation peacefully."

Wells gave a sigh and took off his beret, brushing a hand through his dark curls. "So what if they don't understand? What if solving the situation peacefully isn't possible?"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "What if it is and we didn't try?"


	15. Chapter 15

**14.**

Checking his watch, Jack left the boardroom hurriedly. He thought that Archie had had enough time to make some progress with Ianto and he wanted to go down and check if they needed anything. Tosh's voice behind him stopped him on the metal walkway, though. "I assume you've got a plan?"

He turned back to her, glancing at the UNIT officers and Harriet Jones behind the glass walls of the boardroom. "Kind of."

Gwen joined them outside, carefully closing the door. Tosh smiled at her. "He's got a plan."

Gwen raised her eyebrows and stepped closer curiously. "Why didn't you say so in there?"

Jack leaned against the railing with crossed arms. "Because UNIT would stop me," he said softly, not wanting his voice to carry in the cavernous main Hub, even though nobody was sitting at the desks on the ground floor beneath them. They were the only ones here, but Jack didn't quite trust UNIT. "It's not how they do things. They're military. They only trust what they can see and they don't have much room for improvisation."

"You're going to improvise?" Gwen asked, lowering her voice as well. "Isn't that a bit risky? They've got that blood control device, don't they?"

"We've got Tosh," Jack said with a grin.

Tosh shook her head. "I finished the program, but I can't be a 100% sure that I will manage to block the signal. All I had to go on was the signature from last time. If the one from this ship varies only slightly ..."

"Can't you work around that?" Jack asked.

"I tried to do my best but this isn't a sure thing. There's nothing I can do until they activate the device and I get a lock on the signal."

Jack looked at her for a long moment. "You will manage," he said firmly, watching a blush rise on her cheeks.

Still, she crossed her arms, wrapping the old cardigan she wore tightly around herself. "Jack-"

"You will."

Tosh took a deep breath, her dark eyes meeting his in determination. "I will."

"Go. Prepare yourself."

She gave him one last hesitant glance and went back into the boardroom. Gwen frowned at him and stepped closer. "Do you think it's a good idea to put so much pressure on her?"

"Who else do I have?" Jack replied earnestly.

Gwen sighed, looking reluctant, then she straightened and put her hands on her hips. "What do you need me to do?"

"Be my 2IC. You're in charge when I'm not there." He looked at the boardroom. "It's quite possible that I will have to leave."

"To go where?"

"Whatever happens," he answered, ignoring her question, "you protect Ianto, you protect Tosh. This is your place, understand? Your base. Your rules are the law here. As long as you feel that, you will be absolutely fine. I'm counting on you."

She nodded slowly. "Sure. Okay. But where will you go?"

He smiled at her and turned away. "For now, down to see Ianto and Archie. They need some dinner." He knew Gwen had more questions but she chose not to ask and he was glad. It was better if nobody knew what he was planning. That way, nobody could be held accountable for his actions.

xxx

Archie was good for Ianto. There was no emotion coming from him to disturb him, he was just a calm presence which soothed his frayed nerves to no end. The more the drug Jack had given him wore off, the more Archie had helped him to replace the numbing effects with control by picturing a calm moment and projecting that feeling back onto himself.

"Got a grip?" Archie asked.

Ianto nodded, his eyes closed.

"Okay, focus on that. What do you feel … now?"

There was a flutter of pain and, just like Archie had taught him in the last hours, Ianto latched onto it immediately, shoving it into the background while breathing out to keep his calm and projecting the feeling back at himself. The picture he imagined was simple, like Archie had taught him. Something he could quickly conjure up and get into without having to think much about it.

"Good lad," Archie said. "That's the whole trick. Take some calm and project it back at yourself. Shove away everything you don't need."

Ianto opened his eyes and looked at Archie curiously, who was sitting in the chair at the desk. "How can I do what you do? Project at one specific person, even when there are many in the room."

Archie shook his head. "That's an advanced class. As is picking one person and only feeling their emotions." He got up and stepped closer. "What you need to master first is not letting everyone's emotions overwhelm you. Only focusing on your own feelings. You just need to train how to recognize them, because at the moment, Archie thinks you can't quite tell the difference."

"Could we train that now?"

"Not today."

Ianto frowned. "What am I supposed to do until we can?"

"Until you do, you should do what Archie taught you. Push it on the back burner, hold on to the image you created in your head to find peace and focus on that. It will stop you from projecting on others as well. It might seem difficult not to let any emotions get to you and others might perceive you as impassive but … Archie will train you properly very soon and then you can get on with your life." He put a hand on Ianto's shoulder. "Archie's going to talk to Jack about it later. He can't wait with your training much longer. But what Archie taught you today at least takes the pressure off."

There was a knock.

"Ah!" Archie said with a smile. "Perfect. There's another way to help you out."

The visitor didn't seem to be who he expected, though, because as soon as he opened the door, Ianto felt annoyance radiate off him. He stuffed it away as quickly as he could. It was getting easier, focusing on the image in his head and wrapping the calm it projected around himself. It wasn't much, really. Just a free Saturday morning he'd spent in bed recently, catching up on his reading.

He smiled at Jack who grinned back. Jack's joy was just as easily discarded as Archie's annoyance. Absolutely no emotion, good or bad, was allowed to get near him until the training. Archie had told Ianto that even good emotions caused cracks in the wall they'd built together and as long as he couldn't vary between letting emotions through and turning them away as smoothly as Archie did, he couldn't risk it.

Archie glared at Jack. "Archie wanted the girl to come down here."

"And I know why," Jack answered, becoming serious while he lowered his voice. "Give me a minute." He pushed past Archie and put a paper bag on the bedside table. Smiling again, he asked Ianto, "Alright?"

He nodded. His stomach complained and the hunger he felt was almost too much, so Ianto quickly grabbed the bag from the table. Jack turned back to Archie. "Let's talk."

Archie crossed his arms. "Okay."

"Outside," Jack added and strode out of the room. Ianto watched the door close behind them and wondered what this was about.

xxx

As soon as the door closed, Jack whirled around to Archie and put his hands on his hips. "Not Toshiko."

Archie crossed his arms. "She's perfectly balanced, not overly emotional, she's not an empath and there's a great deal of trust between her and Ianto. So tell Archie, Jack: why not her? And who else is there?"

Jack shook his head and brushed a hand through his hair. He felt bad for denying Archie without even involving Tosh or Ianto in the decision, but this was non-negotiable in his eyes. As soon as he'd heard that Toshiko was supposed to bring dinner down, he'd known what Archie was planning and he didn't like it. "I'll do it."

Archie's bright eyes widened incredulously. "Certainly not!" He took off his glasses and folded them to tuck them into the breast pocket of his dress shirt. "You know that she's the perfect anchor to Ianto's empathy. You're too involved with him to do this. You know the rules."

"It's just guidelines, really," Jack replied with a shrug.

Archie glared at him. "Established for a reason."

Jack sighed. "Okay ... he shouldn't have an anchor at all. It's too risky. You know just as well as I do what happens when an empath loses their anchor."

Archie snorted. "So, why should you want to become Ianto's? You will leave."

Jack whispered, "Tosh might die." He didn't want to say it too loud, didn't want to challenge fate.

It was quiet for a long moment, then Archie said, "Fine. Let's compromise: no anchor for now."

Jack gave a nod of agreement. "You don't have one after all."

"This environment is much more stressful than Torchwood Two but ..." Archie shrugged. "Archie admits, some empaths don't need an anchor, so let's see how it goes. An anchor can be added later on if necessary."

Jack cleared his throat and tucked his hands into his trouser pockets, glancing at the door. "How's he doing otherwise?"

"Fine for now, but Archie would really advise you to start training in early January."

"Done," Jack replied. "I certainly learned my lesson for waiting too long." He ducked his head and softly admitted, "I messed up."

"Nothing new there," Archie replied, but the sympathetic hand on Jack's shoulder lightened the jab.

"No, I mean I really, really messed up." Jack pulled up his shoulders. "I think I confused him … and he withdrew."

Archie sighed deeply. "And you think it would be a good idea to become his anchor under these circumstances?"

"I don't know," Jack answered, frustrated. "I don't know what's a good idea where he's concerned anymore. Over Christmas … sometimes I think that I don't want to ..." He swallowed and shook his head.

"You don't want to leave," Archie said slowly. He was looking at Jack as if he wasn't quite sure he should believe him and Jack could understand ... after all, finding the Doctor and leaving with him had been his prime goal all these decades. Finally, Archie turned away, brushing an agitated hand through his grey hair. "Jack, this is what Archie warned you about, remember?"

Jack ducked his head.

Archie stepped closer. "The Doctor," he said softly. "He should be your priority. You've been waiting for him for a hundred years, you barely know that lad in there a year." He let out a breath. "Listen, Archie likes Ianto. You know he does and he certainly approves of him for you but, Jack … get your priorities straight."

"Nothing can stop me from coming back when I have my answers."

Archie smiled. "Nothing but what you were born to do, you mean?"

Jack stared at Archie helplessly. "How can I know that I wasn't born to do this?"

"Well, you certainly shouldn't lead the lad on as long as you're not sure what the answer to that question is." With that, Archie returned to the room and to Ianto.

xxx

Almost as soon as Ianto stepped into the main Hub, Gwen enfolded him into a relieved embrace. He returned the hug a bit hesitantly and then pushed her back gently. She tucked her hair behind her ears. God, she was tired! She'd only caught about two hours on the couch and began to feel really drained. Ianto looked just as tired but his blue eyes seemed brighter than before and the tense lines on his face had smoothed out. "It's good to see you," she whispered and looked at him questioningly. "Are you okay?"

"I feel good," he answered with a small nod, then he turned away and headed for the kitchen niche in a corner of the Hub, asking, "Coffee?"

"Please," Gwen answered with a frown, watching Tosh join Ianto on his way there. She looked back at Jack. "He seems a bit off."

Instead of Jack, Archie replied, "He's distanced. He's supposed to be. Don't worry about it, darling, everything's going according to plan." Gwen gave a hesitant nod, not quite sure about that. Sure, Ianto had never been an overly emotional person but this was unusual and something that would take some getting used to. Archie nodded at Jack, donning his worn coat. "Archie will be off then."

Jack grasped Archie's arms and pulled him into a short hug, clapping his shoulder. "Thanks for coming, Archie."

"Don't mention it, lad." With that, Archie nodded at Gwen and left through the cogwheel door.

Gwen stared at after him until the door had slid closed and the alarm had faded. "He's barely been here for a day."

"He doesn't like to sleep away from home," Jack replied with a wry smile.

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "He's a bit weird, isn't he?"

"What else is new?" Jack winked at her and then hurried up the stairs to the boardroom. "How's it going up there?"

"Everything's going okay," Gwen answered. "Tosh is still working on her programme and Wells is on the phone a lot, but all in all, they're well-behaved."

Jack pushed open the door to the boardroom, passing by Natasha and her comrade. Gwen followed him in, relieved to hand over command. Especially when Thompson turned away from the windows with a frown of disapproval edged into his forehead. "Did I see what I think I saw?"

Jack shoved his hands in his trouser pockets, looking down into the main Hub. "Ianto Jones will support us within his usual job description until this crisis is over."

Thompson shook his head. "I hardly think-"

"That's the problem," Jack interrupted him with a wink and left Thompson gaping at him while he checked his watch. Gwen saw Nowak stifle a chuckle behind his hand and couldn't suppress a smile herself. She bit her lip when Thompson glared at her and turned back to watch Ianto make his way up the stairwell with a tray of cups. Jack turned to Wells, who was looking at the newest satellite footage on the flat screen. "I assume you've been in contact with a lot of smart people. What does it come down to?"

Wells turned to look at him, his hands buried in the pockets of his uniform trousers. "We're screwed."

"To think that, under other circumstances, I would be happy about taking you up on that offer."

Wells's smile was brittle. "We've got no weapon. No defence of any kind. Nothing to appease them."

Jack let out a breath. "I'll talk to them again, see what I can do."

Nowak raised an eyebrow. "After the last time you spoke to them worked out so well?"

"So it wasn't textbook," Jack admitted.

Thompson snorted. "You can say that again."

"I was buying time." He turned to Tosh. "Everything set up?"

"I'm ready," she answered distractedly, still typing in a frenzy.

"Then I guess we all are," Jack said, when Ianto pushed open the door and set down a tray with coffees on the table. He took a mug. "Let's save the world."


	16. Chapter 16

**15.**

Hours later, after a sleepless night of pacing and waiting, the screen flickered and the Sycorax stared at them. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw Harriet take a step back into one of the corners of the room. She hadn't been in the range of the cameras before but it was obvious that she wanted to make sure to be kept out of the conversation. Jack positioned himself front and centre, making himself the one who led the conversation from their side.

The Sycorax leader, though, started. _"Do you have the one responsible?"_

"Yes," Jack answered, "but we're not going to hand her over just because you say so."

There was a pause, the Sycorax staring at him. Then, finally, their leader said, _"She did us wrong."_

"And she received a penance for that," Jack replied with a nod. "The Doctor personally saw to that."

The red glow of the helmet's eyes seemed to intensify. _"That does not satisfy us."_

Jack smiled. "That sucks for you."

Wells put a hand on his shoulder. "Captain," he hissed.

He barely glanced at him, ignoring his warning. Instead, he stepped closer to the screen. "This planet isn't yours to control. These people aren't yours to enslave."

_"The blood control device-"_

"Is a nice piece of tech but not without fault. It's true that most humans don't know what to do against it, but not all of them. In this room alone are some of the most capable minds of this race gathered together, and they held back more than one threat in their time, so if you think you can just waltz in here and take whatever pleases you, then you are clearly on the wrong boat."

There was a muffled curse behind him and the Sycorax stared at him. As far as he could see, in disbelief and something akin to shock. _"Only one person ever dared talk to us like that."_

"I think I know him," Jack answered with a crooked grin.

_"He might have not regretted his words, but you will, human! You clearly think you have got everything under control. Quite usual for a man like you, but the fact remains that our war is not with you. It is with Earth. If you insist on fighting with its people, we will gladly kill you alongside them."_

Jack pressed his lips together. Nobody but his team knew that he was immortal. Since he'd been able to gain control over that particular secret, he'd only ever told the people he trusted and the directors of Torchwood One as well as a small team of scientists. UNIT was one organization he'd guarded it the most from.

Wells stepped next to Jack. "Enough of this. If you don't see him as a suitable representative, you will talk to me."

_"Who are you?"_ the Sycorax leader asked.

"Major Wells from the military organisation UNIT."

The Sycorax leader tilted his head, switching his focus to Wells, seemingly dismissing Jack. _"You know what we want."_

"Yes, but while we understand the concept of revenge quite well, we also believe in a fair trial."

_"All we ask from you is what you took from us."_

"An eye for an eye," Wells answered. "It doesn't work quite like that here."

To the surprise of everyone, Harriet stepped forward then, positioning herself in-between Jack and Wells. "It's me you're looking for."

The Sycorax leader nodded at someone off-screen and Jack turned away, stepping aside towards Ianto. He leaned in close and whispered, "Shields?"

"Up and running." Ianto showed him the PDA in his hand, the shield generator system showing a green light.

Jack had a closer look at the energy readings and nodded. "Keep an eye on them. I don't think they can, but they might be able to disable the shields."

Ianto nodded. Jack put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, then turned back to the screen.

Harriet was standing closer now. She'd obviously gained some of her old confidence back because she looked far from the disillusioned woman Jack had met in her flat in London. "What I did was out of self-defence."

The Sycorax glared at her. _"Our king was leaving."_

"I misread the situation."

_"You will never do so again."_

Silence stretched while Harriet swallowed thickly. Jack buried his hands in his pockets, watching the Sycorax turn his head, hissing something that the translation software didn't catch. Jack, though, did and he grinned. "If you are currently trying to transport Miss Jones to your ship …" He shook his head. "Won't work."

The Sycorax stared at him angrily. _"What did you do?"_

"We've got shields protecting this base. Shields strong enough to stop any kind of transmission. Miss Jones will stay here, safe, as long as necessary. Which means, until you turned around and left nicely and quietly."

_"You are playing a dangerous game."_

"Maybe."

_"Maybe we need to show you just how dangerous a game it is,"_ the Sycorax said and then spoke to someone off-screen. _"Activate the blood control."_

Then the screen went blank.

Thompson got up from his seat. "Captain, was that smart?"

"They can't harm us. We've taken precautions, we-"

"Jack!" Tosh said, alarmed. He looked at her, surprised to see that she had paled considerably. "I can't get a hold of the signal."

Stephen gasped. "What?"

Gwen put a hand on Tosh's shoulder. "Try again," she said.

Thompson glared at Jack. "She can't stop it!" he thundered. "What were you thinking?"

In that moment, Tosh cried out in relief. "Got it!" She looked at Jack. "Got it. It's so sophisticated, I ... for a moment there …"

"It's alright," Jack replied, trying to reign his own flash of panic in, "you stopped it."

In that moment, the male UNIT soldier guarding the door collapsed with a grunt of pain.

"Charlie!" his female comrade cried and knelt next to him, looking for his pulse.

Gwen joined her, pushing her frantic fingers aside. "Natasha, let me ..."

"I think he's dead," Natasha sobbed.

Silence reigned while Gwen looked for a pulse, only Natasha's suppressed sobs were heard. She was trying to gain control over herself, Jack could tell. And failing.

Gwen looked up at Jack. "He's dead," she whispered.

"Oh God," Stephen moaned. "Rebecca ... Caitlin ..." He left the room, fumbling with his phone.

Thompson swallowed. "Does anybody here know whether that boy was affected by the last time the blood device was used?"

"Yes," Natasha whispered.

Gwen got up from her crouching position. "It's coincidence."

Thompson snorted. "You really think so?"

Wells was staring at the dead soldier and then put a hand on Natasha's shoulder. Jack's eyes found Stephen on the walkway outside the boardroom, frantically dialling and waiting for someone to pick up.

Ianto's voice broke through the silence. "Jack."

They all turned to him. He'd pulled up the CCTV footage of Roald Dahl Plass. Even though the footage was grainy in the early morning light, it was easy to see the three slumped figures on the ground and the people running towards them to help.

Jack looked at Tosh. "Did you or did you not stop it?" He hated that he sounded so accusing and the way she pulled up her shoulders and bit back tears, but he couldn't find the energy to be comforting right now. Not when he'd probably killed thousands of people. There was no doubt in his mind that he'd provoked the Sycorax to go this far. Him alone.

"I did," she said hastily. "I got a hold of it."

Thompson answered, "Not soon enough."

Ianto was standing at the keyboard, hammering away on the keys. The footage of Roald Dahl Plass was replaced by images of Victoria Station. And to Jack's infinite relief, everything seemed normal there. Several more CCTV cameras accessed in rapid succession showed what was going on on the world: Montmartre, Alexanderplatz, Times Square, Moscow, the busy streets of Hong Kong and Sidney …

Stephen entered the boardroom. "They're alright," he said hoarsely, clutching the phone. "How can that be?"

Ianto said, "Tosh stopped it. It only affected a small radius."

Wells stepped closer to the screen. "How small?"

"Cardiff ..." Ianto pulled up footage of Bristol, then Pembroke and Newport. "Just Cardiff it seems." He looked at Jack. "Maybe some of the outskirts. Sir?"

"Go check more thoroughly," Jack answered.

Ianto nodded and hurried out of the room.

"Tosh," Jack added, "help him."

She seemed glad to be able to escape the room and quickly followed Ianto. For a moment, there was silence.

"We stopped it," Jack finally said. "It's not the whole world."

Thompson glared at him. "This is on you, Harkness. You provoked them."

"Yes, but would you have given them what they wanted?"

"It was done before," Thompson answered.

Jack avoided his eyes and turned away. "Yes, but that doesn't mean we should do it again."

xxx

"Jack," Stephen said softly, stepping closer. Jack didn't look at him, instead watching the main Hub through the boardroom windows. Watching Natasha. She was sitting on the couch at the far wall, crying while Wells was talking to her. Jack certainly couldn't say that the man was a bad CO, the way he'd taken to seeing after Natasha. Jack turned away from the window, glancing at the spot where Charlie Patel had died and then sat at the table next to Ianto.

"This is the worst that could have happened," Stephen said.

Thompson snorted. "You think so?"

"The worst would have been the death of everyone on the world with the blood group A-positive," Jack said. He ignored the way Gwen looked at him, slightly reprimanding, but she didn't say anything. Jack shrugged and sighed. He didn't like the prospect, either, but it really wasn't the worst that could have happened, even though many people had died and many more were in hospital, suffering from heart attacks. At least they had the confirmation by now that only the bay area and city centre of Cardiff was hit. Apparently, the Sycorax had used the Hub as the epicentre. Jack rubbed his tired eyes. "I'll stop this," he said into the silence. "I will."

"I don't understand," Harriet softly said. "The Doctor ..." She looked at Jack. "He said, blood control is only a kind of hypnosis, that it doesn't kill ..."

Jack closed his eyes. "It can be used both ways. What happened last Christmas was hypnosis, yes, but … blood control is able to do more harm." He let out a breath. "However, using it like that is forbidden," he whispered. Blood control had always been trapped in-between leverage and a weapon of mass destruction. Using it for the latter was a crime worthy of the Shadow Proclamation's intervention. "These Sycorax don't have anything left to lose. We need to stop them."

Gwen's mobile rang and she frowned at the display before quickly leaving the room.

"By now, it's not a matter of intentions, Captain. It's a matter of security. People died," Thompson answered. "This shouldn't have happened."

"I certainly didn't plan for it!" Jack snapped. "How can you even assume that I would risk the life of innocents?"

The door to the boardroom crashed open and Gwen stared at Jack with tear-filled eyes. "I need to go."

"Why?" he asked, worried.

She sobbed. "It's Rhys." She hiccuped. "He was hit by the blood device."


	17. Chapter 17

**16.**

Owen's mobile pulled him out of a restless sleep.

He opened his eyes, staring at it buzzing away on the nightstand and was tempted to ignore it. He was on suspension after all. Unpaid. He didn't need to answer to Jack. And the grey December afternoon was giving him a headache anyway.

He closed his eyes again when the mobile quieted, trying to find the sleep he'd been forced from. Trying to ignore the thirst and the fuzzy feeling of still being inebriated.

After a minute, though, the mobile started buzzing again against the wood of the table, insistent.

What if something had happened? What if they actually needed him?

He peered at the mobile for a moment longer, then he sighed reluctantly and snatched it off the nightstand. "What?" he asked.

_"Get some decent clothes on and get over here,"_ Jack said.

Owen chuckled. "I'm on suspension."

_"I need you over here, Owen. You come here in the next half an hour or I will come and get you."_ With that, Jack hung up the phone.

Owen snorted. "Jack bloody Harkness," he muttered.

He played with the thought of ignoring the order … five minutes later, he got up and got dressed.

xxx

Owen found everyone in the boardroom, crowded around the table and listening to Jack who was standing there with his arms crossed like some kind of super-hero. Knowing answers where everybody else came up empty. Gwen wasn't there, surprisingly, and there was a female UNIT soldier with red eyes, grasping a handkerchief, sitting in one of the chairs. It wasn't often you saw UNIT soldiers cry …

Stephen Nowak and another officer were listening to Jack intently, though, and Tosh was sitting in front of her laptop, tapping away, while Ianto stood behind her.

When Owen entered the boardroom, Jack was just saying, "That's when I remembered what bothered me about this scenario from the start. The Sycorax have a very firm belief in their religion. They're superstitious."

Nowak shook his head. "I still don't get why that's important."

Owen leaned against the door and crossed his arms, waiting. He'd done what was asked of him and come here … now it was Jack's turn to tell him what was going on, because Owen had no idea why they were working side by side with UNIT all of a sudden and where the Sycorax came in.

Jack took notice of him with a short glance and then focused on the others again. "The day the king was killed, Earth was cursed. Every population able to defend themselves from the Sycorax is automatically scratched from their maps."

The man sitting next to Nowak gasped. "Which means that they shouldn't even be here."

"Major Wells is right," Jack said, pointing at him like a teacher who was proud of his pupil grasping a complicated concept. "To them, this planet is cursed. Why would they make an exception and come here?"

Nowak frowned. "It's their king who was killed. High priority."

"True," Jack replied with a nod. "But still ..." He turned to the flat screen on the wall behind him where several, grainy pictures showed something Owen couldn't quite make out in the glaringly bright lights of the boardroom. Jack nodded, almost to himself. "I expect them to get back to us soon. They're probably still trying to figure out why the signal of their blood control device was blocked. But they won't give up yet."

Wells crossed his arms. "They have several ships in orbit. How do we know they won't attack us using them?"

"That's the question, isn't it?" Jack asked. "Excuse me for a moment," he added and left with a glance in Ianto's direction, who gave a subtle nod.

Owen went outside and Jack followed him, closing the door before he asked softly, "Did you drink?"

"Want to have a go at me already?" Owen asked.

"Did you?"

Grudgingly, Owen admitted, "Yes."

Jack reached into his breast pocket and handed Owen a green pill. Owen looked at it sceptically. It looked harmless enough, but so did rat poison. "You want me to swallow that?"

Jack gave a brittle smile. "Cures what ails you ... I used to take them all the time a long while ago. Wanted to be a good study but I also liked to party. It'll sober you up within minutes." He became serious and stepped closer, lowering his voice even more. "This is an exception."

Owen nodded and swallowed the pill. "Isn't it always where you are concerned?" He looked towards the boardroom. "So, what can I do?"

Jack crossed his arms. "Take over as my 2IC. Gwen had to leave, it's Rhys. Looks like you'll have the post a little while longer."

"Lucky me!" Owen groused. "It's not that glorious, you know? Before Ianto came along, Suzie had to do all your paperwork."

"And still, you didn't want to lose the position." Jack stared at him, his blue eyes looking for something.

Owen avoided them, instead shaking his head. "So, if we have a minute, why don't you fill me in?"

xxx

Jack leaned against the wall, pushing his back against the brickwork firmly enough to feel the uneven ridges dig into his back. He pressed his shoulder against the coffee machine installed outside the boardroom that protected him from the eyes inside. Idly, he noticed the _Out Of Order_ sign Ianto had taped on the machine and for just a moment, he tried to pretend everything was fine.

He breathed and closed his eyes.

The voices carrying through the glass walls of the boardroom were muffled. They were all in there, waiting for the Sycorax to contact them. Jack would have liked to go into his office, climb into his bunker and hide out there but that wasn't possible. He needed to be close in case the Sycorax made contact. So the little protection the bulky coffee machine provided had to be enough.

He opened his eyes, glancing down onto the main floor and towards the medbay where Charlie Patel's body was stored. Jack ducked his head and crossed his arms, taking another deep breath.

"Sir?"

He looked up at Ianto.

"It's not your fault."

Jack shook his head. "Whose fault is it then? Tosh's? Harriet's?"

"Do we have to find a guilty party?" Ianto asked.

Jack smiled bitterly and cleared his throat, straightening, and changing the topic. "How are you doing?"

"Good," he answered. "Shields are holding. It's hard when emotions run high like they did when the blood control was activated but ..." He nodded, his face earnest. "I'll be fine."

Jack nodded, gave a short laugh and then took Ianto's hand, pulling him closer and into an embrace.

"Jack-"

"Just a minute." He wanted just a minute of this: Ianto, warm in his arms and safe. He felt Ianto's arms close around his chest and breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment, he just stayed like this, then he whispered, "I need to talk to you."

"What about?" Ianto asked, pulling back to look at Jack questioningly.

"There's been a misunderstanding of sorts-"

"Jack?"

He closed his eyes at the interruption and then let go of Ianto, turning to Tosh who had appeared with her opened laptop in her arms.

She looked a bit embarrassed, a blush rising on her cheeks. "Sorry, I didn't intend to-"

"What is it?" Jack asked, maybe a bit too annoyed, because Tosh bit her lip and Ianto gave him a warning look.

Ianto stepped away from Jack and put a hand on Tosh's shoulder. "It's alright, Tosh." Then he left to return to the boardroom.

Jack let out a breath and gifted Tosh with a smile. "Sorry. What have you got?"

She looked after Ianto. "I'm really sorry, Jack, I didn't know you were-"

"Don't worry about it, Tosh. I'm sure what you've got is important."

She nodded. "I'm not quite sure what exactly I'm looking at but the energy readings we're getting from the ships are ... off."

"Off?"

"Have a look."

He obeyed, studying the readings their scanners were showing them and those of UNIT's systems beneath. The lines representing the energy output were straight, unerring. Eleven ships buzzing with life and using up energy. There was no difference between Torchwood and UNIT's readings. Jack frowned quizzically. "Looks exactly as I expected."

"That's not what I mean. Wait for it."

Jack stared at the readings, steadily showing them the amount of energy the ships emitted and then ... "Whoa," he uttered. The straight line was interrupted, for just a second, dipping low and then immediately rising again. "What was that? A glitch?"

"Not in our system. In theirs." She closed her laptop. "I watched this for at least five hours now. In regular intervals, the energy readings dip down to a certain level and then rise again. It's as if ..." She hesitated, looking for words or maybe scared she'd say the wrong thing.

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Yes?"

She stepped closer, her dark eyes sparkling at the thrill of solving a technical mystery. "We're looking at the signals of eleven ships, right? And then, suddenly, most of the signals vanish for a second and appear again - in regular intervals." She stared at Jack. "It's like ten of them just ... disappear."

"They don't," Jack said, when he realized what they were looking at. "They don't disappear." He looked at her with a grin. "There is a glitch alright. In their projectors! These ten ships don't disappear, Tosh, they were never there."

xxx

"Time to end this," Jack said, barging into the boardroom.

Thompson looked at Owen in annoyance. "Does he always do that?"

Owen just sipped his coffee.

Ianto took it upon himself to answer, "Repeatedly. He likes it."

Jack smiled at him at that and took position at the head of the boardroom table next to Wells. "Thanks to brilliant Miss Sato, some new information just came in and it might just be the key to this problem."

Wells frowned at him and crossed his arms, immediately suspicious. "What kind of information?"

Meanwhile, Tosh had settled back into her seat next to Owen and used her laptop to call up an image on the flat screen, showing a schematic image of Earth and the surrounding space. There was one red, blinking dot.

Jack grinned at them, making sure they were all looking at the image before he said, "I present to you: The Sycorax fleet."

There was a moment of stunned silence, then Nowak cleared his throat. "It's just one ship."

"Because they tricked us," Jack replied, "and it would have worked if their projector wouldn't fail every now and again in faking energy signals and show images where there aren't any."

Wells and Thompson exchanged a disbelieving look.

"Jesus," Thompson muttered. "How didn't we catch that?"

"It's hard to catch," Jack answered.

Wells shook his head. "So, what are you planning to do now?"

"I'm going to have another chat with our friends."

Harriet left her corner of the room. "Isn't that too dangerous? After all, they could use the blood control device again. There's no way we can be sure they haven't found a way around Miss Sato's blockade."

"It might be dangerous," Jack said, "but it's necessary. And I'll need to talk to them in private."

Thompson frowned at him. "Why?"

"Why not?"

"Because, Captain, your diplomatic talent isn't very good."

"I've been thinking about this pretty much since I first confronted them. Believe me", Jack said, "it would be better for me to talk to them alone. I know what I'm doing."

Wells shook his head. "So you just want us to leave the room?"

"No need," Jack answered, looking at Owen. "You can stay. I will leave." For a moment, there was silence, then Jack put his hands on his hips and explained, "When I said 'private', I meant it. I'm going to let them transport me aboard their ship."


	18. Chapter 18

**17.**

"Oh my God, Rhys," Gwen whispered and wiped her cheek. She hurried to his bedside and then stood there, hesitating. In the neutral, clinically bare hospital room, he looked so weak, so frail, pale and small. Slowly sitting on the edge of the bed, she sniffed and took Rhys's hand.

He didn't react.

Gwen would have thought that he was unconscious – or worse – but she'd talked to the doctor and he'd given her an update about Rhys's condition before hurrying on to the next family awaiting news. Rhys would pull through. He was deeply asleep at the moment and the heart attack had hit him hard, but he would be okay.

Gwen had never in her life felt guiltier.

Even starting an affair with Owen hadn't played this much havoc on her feelings for Rhys. Faithful, silly, gorgeous Rhys, waiting for her with dinner and a smile whenever she made it home in the evening. _Trying_ to live with the fact that work was a big part of her life and as unpredictable these days as it had never been before. And Gwen … she hadn't thought of checking on Rhys after the blood control device had been activated. Hadn't made the same connection that Nowak had made before he'd contacted his family in a frenzy. Hadn't thought … expected … maybe because there was just no other way of living for her anymore. Rhys had been there for so long and in her mind, he always would be but this … this had proven that she couldn't be more wrong. What it exactly it meant for her life now, she didn't know. Just that it meant _something_.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."

xxx

"I've got an offer to make," Jack said as soon as the Sycorax appeared on the screen.

The aliens seemed taken aback for a moment, as if they'd prepared an opening sentence and now hadn't got to say it. It was almost kind of funny, Owen mused, if the situation wasn't so serious. Jack had taken control as he always did: With his arms crossed and his jaw stubbornly set. And surprisingly enough, Wells and Thompson had caved. Kind of. Thompson was still glaring at Jack in a way that promised retribution when all this was over and Wells had resigned himself to the fact that Jack would be the one doing the talking. It was strange how they were all sitting here at the boardroom table behind Jack as if all he had to do was raise a hand and they'd do as he ordered them to. Nothing was probably farther from the truth.

But it seemed to make an impression on the Sycorax who crowded closer together while their leader finally asked, _"What kind of offer?"_

"I'm sure you realized that your little trick didn't work out quite as well as you expected. Which means we can match whatever you throw at us. So ... let's talk."

The leader narrowed his eyes but gave in, grudgingly. _"Then talk."_

"On board your ship, in private."

The Sycorax tilted his head, clearly interested now. _"You want to talk to us alone?"_

Owen only saw the back of Jack's head, but he knew him well enough to be able to imagine him raising his chin a little challengingly. "Yes."

The Sycorax made a thoughtful noise. _"How would we know this is not some kind of trick?"_

"Because I swear it isn't. I give you my word."

_"Men of your kind break their promises, Captain."_

"I won't."

The Sycorax just stared.

Jack turned away from them with a shrug. "Decide. Either you let me come aboard or we blow you out of the sky. I couldn't care less."

Owen caught the warning look Nowak sent Jack. The look that said _'Don't make threats you can't follow through with'_.

The Sycorax laughed, their leaders voice the loudest. Owen glanced at Tosh and saw her bite her lip. Clearly, she was as unsure about all this working the way Jack wanted it to as Owen was. Harriet, sitting next to Tosh, looked at Ianto questioningly who'd chosen the seat closest to the doors. He gave her a smile that was probably meant to be calming but seemed rather forced.

"We know you only have one ship," Jack said conversationally and the Sycorax stopped laughing abruptly. "We've got five Sontaran warheads aimed right at you." He glanced at Wells from over his shoulder. "It was five, right?"

Wells looked taken aback for a moment, then he added to the lie. "Six."

"Six," Jack agreed and looked back at the Sycorax. "Six Sontaran warheads. All that thinking time you gave us ..." He chuckled. "We used it well."

The Sycorax hesitated and the tension in the boardroom became thick enough to feel it press down on all of them.

Owen let out a relieved sigh when the leader of the Sycorax finally gave in. _"We will transport you up." _

"Just me," Jack clarified, nodding at Harriet meaningfully. "Nobody else. Or, you know ... warheads."

The connection was severed.

Jack turned around to them, a wild grin on his features and his blue eyes sparkling with adrenaline. "This'll work. Ianto, lower the shields." He looked at Owen. "I'll be back soonish. Shouldn't take long."

Wells rose from his seat and shoved his hands in his pockets. "You're playing a dangerous game there, Captain."

"Trust me," was Jack's only answer. Before he could say more, he was enveloped in a bright light and vanished.

It was quiet for a moment, then Thompson turned to Nowak furiously. "I can't believe you let him do that."

Nowak shook his head. "If you knew Captain Harkness better, you'd know that there's nothing you can do against him making up his mind about something."

"Oh, believe me," Thompson said, fixing Ianto with a stare, "I'm beginning to get an idea."

Wells raised a hand. "It'll all work out in the end. One way or another."

Owen was distracted from the heated discussion by Ianto putting a hand on his shoulder, holding Jack's mobile. It was ringing. "Owen," he said, his expression dead serious.

Owen got a very bad feeling. "What is it?"

"It's Ben."

Owen cursed and leaned in close to Ianto, whispering, "Ignore it. The last thing we need right now is that over-eager journalist poking his nose into our business."

The phone stopped ringing.

"There you go," Owen said. "Problem solved."

He turned his attention back to the UNIT officers. By now, Nowak had risen from his chair, facing off against Thompson and Wells. "This is not part of the plan."

Wells snorted. "A lot hasn't been part of the plan lately, Captain."

Thompson crossed his arms, his green eyes steely and his face determined. "It's just one ship. We might not have Sontaran warheads but we've found that laser cannon from Torchwood One and it's still functional. Against a fleet, it wouldn't have stood a chance, but like this ..."

Owen stepped closer, joining the discussion on Nowak's side of the table. "Jack said we don't shoot them."

"And since when is Captain Harkness in charge of UNIT?" Thompson asked.

Wells nodded and raised a hand, as if he wanted to calm Owen and Nowak down. "It can't hurt to be ready."

From his corner of the room, Ianto asked, "Is the Prime Minister informed? And the Minister of Defense?"

Thompson glared at him while Wells's eyes widened in alarm.

"It's protocol," Ianto added, casually piling coffee mugs on a tray.

Thompson waved his concerns away. "I don't think your advice is the advice we were waiting for, Mr. Jones."

"I'm just quoting the handbook."

"Well, you should shut up!"

"Hey!" Owen said, drawing everyone's attention to himself. "That's enough."

"My words exactly," Thompson replied angrily. "People lost someone they worked with or held dear in the battle of Canary Wharf, to the Cybermen, and this man helped one of those monsters and still walks free?"

Nowak tucked his hands into his trouser pockets. "You have to admit that you're the wrong person to investigate this, Colonel."

Thompson was furious. "How dare you?!"

"You are personally involved!" Nowak answered. "Your daughter-"

"Is not the topic here!"

Silence slammed into the room. Then Thompson turned away, his shoulders pulled up and his hands balled to fists.

Owen looked at Ianto and inclined his head towards the door. He didn't really want to send Ianto away like a disobeying child, but the tension was too high in this room and was quite possibly playing havoc with Ianto's empathy, as restrained as it was.

Ianto pressed his lips together. "I'll go make coffee then." With that, he left.

Owen took a deep breath. "This isn't the time or the place." When Thompson turned around to him, he added, "And he's right. The PM or the Minister of Defence need to give their permission before we engage in a space battle."

Tosh cleared her throat, softly asking, "You are aware of course that you would kill Jack if you shot the ship down?"

Wells sighed and he looked almost tired. "At this point, Miss Sato, I don't really care. If it saves the entire planet, I would order the execution." He bit his lip. "And I don't claim to know him very well but … I'm sure he'd do the same."

xxx

Ianto was worried. It wasn't good, he knew, to let the feeling linger, because even his own emotions could disrupt what he'd built with Archie, but there was just no way for him to shut it out completely. Jack was a grown man, he knew what he was doing and he was prone to overly heroic impulses ... but even the fact that he couldn't die wouldn't be able to help him much if he was blown to pieces in outer space.

Ianto stared at the coffee dripping into the mug, trying to think of a solution to this mess. He barely heard the echo of heavy steps coming down the metal staircase leading up to the boardroom, only really became aware that he wasn't alone anymore when Nowak softly said, "I'm sorry."

He looked at him in surprise and then gave a small smile, knowing what Nowak was referring to. "It's alright."

"Thompson is ... he's a good bloke, really. Canary Wharf is just kind of a sore spot for him. He had no right to talk to you like that."

"He had every right," Ianto replied. "For all intents and purposes, I'm not someone who can be trusted in UNIT's eyes. No matter what Jack thinks. I can understand that."

"I ... just don't know," Nowak said, pulling a face. "What possessed you to do that?"

"You're married, aren't you?" Ianto asked. "You have a child."

"Yes."

"How far would you go for them if they looked at you and begged you to save them? Despite knowing better deep down, what would you do?"

Nowak swallowed and ducked his head. "Okay, I get it."

Ianto exchanged the cups in the coffee maker and handed Nowak the one he'd just finished. "What are they doing up there?"

Nowak sipped his coffee and gave a tired sigh. "Toshiko and Owen are trying to keep a lid on the situation – not to let this escalate – but I don't see how they'll manage that. This is the command centre but the weapon is outside, in London, and Thompson seems to be getting more determined to end this bloody."

"And Wells?"

Nowak shook his head. "Wells called the Prime Minister and he gave the order. If the Sycorax don't turn away within the next fifteen minutes, we're going to open fire."

Ianto winced. "Was Saxon consulted?"

Nowak looked at Ianto earnestly. "The Prime Minister is the final instance."

"Well," Ianto said, setting the next cup down on the tray and starting on the last one. "Good thing I'm not following the Prime Minister's orders then."

"Ianto ..."

Jack's mobile interrupted Nowak and Ianto used the opportunity presented to him. "Excuse me," he said with a glance at the display. "I have to take this."

Nowak looked like he was going to object for a moment, then he nodded and went back upstairs. Ianto waited until he was almost all the way up the stairs before he answered the phone, "Mr. Bryan, the Captain is unavailable at the moment. We're in a bit of a situation here, as I'm sure you've noticed."

_"Fuck you,"_ Ben answered bitterly. He was talking softly, as if he didn't want to be heard by the people surrounding him. Ianto could hear several voices in the background, murmuring and whispering. _"Of course I noticed. My fiancée ended up in hospital because of your damn situation. I want an explanation."_

Ianto swallowed his regret at having sounded so cold just a moment before. "I'm sorry to hear that, but I can't tell you anything right now."

_"I want to talk to Harkness."_

"He's indisposed."

_"Indisposed?"_

"Talking to them," Ianto explained, trying to get his point across. Ben was silent for a long moment and Ianto added gently, "I assure you that we're taking care of the situation. Go be with your fiancée and I'll make sure that Captain Harkness calls you as soon as possible."

Ben hissed, _"My fiancée is dead!"_

With that, he hung up.

Ianto felt a stab of sadness, unbidden memories surfacing, and he realized that his control was slipping fast. He shook his head, balling his hands to fists, trying to gain back control ...

"Ianto?" Tosh's soft voice was unexpectedly loud and startled him. Her dark eyes were widened fearfully and she put a hand on his shoulder. Ianto tried not to rear back and the kitchen counter in his back prevented him, but it must have shown on his face because Tosh pulled her hand away as if she'd been burned. "Oh God," she said. "What's wrong?"

Ianto took a deep breath, focussing on that calm morning in his bed, reading, and then projected the feeling it evoked back at himself. But his control kept slipping and he made a frustrated sound. "Ben Bryan's fiancée is dead."

"And what ..." She paused and her face crumpled. "Oh, Ianto."

He raised both hands, warding off another bout of sympathy. "I'm over it. I should be over it."

She took his hand and squeezed. "You can't lose focus now, Ianto."

"Tosh-"

"Focus!" she said firmly. He closed his eyes and did just that, finally able to grasp onto the calm and wrap it around himself. He felt Tosh's warm fingers entwine with his and relaxed his stance a bit. Finally, he felt confident enough to open his eyes again. Tosh was looking at him with concern, but a small smile on her face. "Alright?"

He nodded slowly. "I didn't think it would still hurt so much. The worst is ..." He swallowed. "I was starting to forget."

"Not forget, no," Tosh replied quickly. "Not so much forget as only remembering the good things about her."

Ianto gave a bitter smile and nodded. "Yes." He looked at the tray in dismay. "The coffee's cold now. I better make a new batch."

Tosh put a hand on his back. "Are you okay?"

"I'm going to be. Let us solve this mess first and then move on to the next."

"They're not going to take you. Jack won't let them."

"Jack might not have much of a choice." Ianto sighed. "I just want to ..." He hesitated and then looked at Tosh. "Promise me … I'd like to see my sister before they take me."

Tosh looked at him for a long moment and then nodded. "Alright."

xxx

When the light of the transport beam faded and Jack was able to see something again, he found himself on the Sycorax ship. He was standing in the middle of a huge room that – at first glance – could have been mistaken for a cave. Torches were burning in the fastenings on the walls, stairs leading into corridors. It was warm. Only the soft hum of the life support system and the gentle vibrations he could feel through the soles of his feet told him that he really wasn't in a cave after all.

Jack turned and found the Sycorax leader behind him, standing in front of doors leading outside, surrounded by four others of his kind. They looked at Jack sceptically and he raised his hands to show he wasn't carrying a weapon. The leader stepped forward, his red eyes in the helmet glowing. Jack took another pointed look around and then let his hands drop, turning to the leader. "This is your crew?" he asked in their language.

The leader nodded. "These men and a few more on the bridge."

"You're not prepared for an invasion, are you?"

"We are not here for an invasion," the leader answered.

"You're here for revenge," Jack replied. "Which brings me to the reason of me being here. Are you going to leave if you get what you want?"

"Yes."

Jack titled his head. "An eye for an eye. A life for a life?"

The leader nodded solemnly.

"Well, then the solution to all this is easy," Jack replied, spreading his arms. "Kill me."


	19. Chapter 19

**18.**

For a very long moment, it was quiet, while the leader seized Jack up carefully. Finally, he shook his head. "You do not belong to them. Our war is not with you."

Jack shrugged, putting his hands on his hips. "I don't care. I offer my life for theirs."

The leader huffed and turned away. "This is a trick," he said and his companions nodded.

Jack wanted to follow him but stopped himself. He didn't want to appear aggressive in any way and the Sycorax were well-known for their short temper. "It's not."

The leader whirled back around to him, his bone necklace softly clacking. "Everyone knows that killing a Time Agent is an offence worthy of involving the Shadow Proclamation!"

"I'm living under the radar here," Jack explained and held up his right arm with his vortex manipulator. "It's broken. The Time Agency won't know that you killed me. All I ask is that immediately after you're done, you'll send my body to a specific location that I will give you." He wanted to avoid the Sycorax seeing him come back to life under all circumstances.

The leader glared at him. "That is not acceptable!"

"According to your beliefs, it is." Jack stared at him intently. "And according to your beliefs and your royal codex, you have to accept my offer. I'm this planet's champion and it says nowhere that the champion has to be from the world that's being threatened. I'm asking you to kill me."

The leader stepped closer again, looking at him from head to toe. "You could fight and die in honour."

"I don't want to fight. What Earth did was wrong. Take my life and then go home."

"We killed humans with our attack and you would just overlook that?"

"No. I'm not overlooking it. It was wrong of you to kill them. It was wrong of us to kill your king. We're even in my eyes, but if you want to really take personal revenge on someone for your king's death, then take it on me." The leader turned away. Jack took a chance. "Because he meant more to you than just being your king, didn't he?"

The leader froze and his companions tensed. Jack didn't know if he'd just gone too far but the more he discovered about their invaders, the more he got a feeling this wasn't the usual Sycorax hunt for slaves. When the leader turned back around to him, Jack knew that he was right and the leader's next words confirmed his hunch. "He was my father."

Jack nodded. "I thought as much. Something about this struck me as strange from the start, because I know that you never return to battlefields you lost on. They're considered as being cursed."

The leader nodded.

"Which means ...," Jack added, "that you are cursed by coming here."

The leader stared at Jack for a long moment, then he raised his hands, ordering his companions, "Leave us." They obeyed immediately, leaving the room quickly, but no doubt staying close. The leader took off his helmet. He was attractive for a Sycoraxian man, Jack noticed. Smooth red skin and bright yellow eyes in an earnest, young face. His exoskeleton was like a second helmet, surrounding his eyes and accentuating his cheek bones. He said, "We can never return home."

Jack nodded. "I understand how that feels."

"We found the blood device and other debris of his ship when we were approaching Earth. It was all that was left of my father and there was still blood left in it. It was like a sign of approval."

Jack knew the Sycorax, knew their mentality ... and their history. Right now, they were still slave traders but he knew that a few thousand years down the line, there would be nothing left of that part of their culture. One thing, though, remained: Family bonds were extremely strong and the approval of the parents very important for the children. So he nodded at the leader. "He would be proud."

The leader looked grateful for those words and then looked at the doors as if he could see Earth beneath the ship. "They have no honour. No codex. Hiding behind a Time Lord and a Time Agent and at the same time acting as if they know everything ... shooting a retreating army in the back."

Jack frowned. "You're slave traders, making money off misery. How is that better?"

"We look our enemies in the eyes before selling them on. We give them a chance to fight by letting them choose a champion. And we do not attack from behind."

"That's your side of the story but do you think your victims see it that way?"

The leader huffed. "We might be cursed, but they _are_ a curse. Who knows if it would not be better to wipe them out now?"

Jack stepped closer, looking the leader in the eyes with determination. "You won't. I've seen the future and you won't take this step. Humans will live to learn and spread out and fight and mingle and make peace. They will kill. But as much as they haven't got the right to do that, you don't have the right to stop them before they even started." He smiled. "Believe me, we will do great things and it's stories like the one of how we killed your father that we will teach our children to make them better than we are." He sighed deeply. "Just like your race will learn that slave trade isn't the way to go. I met a nation of Sycorax who were different than you are, sought out by all races across the universe for spiritual guidance."

The leader looked at him earnestly and narrowed his eyes. "Why are you telling me this? You are not allowed to talk about things to come."

Jack pressed his lips together and reached out a hand, touching his shoulder. "Because I know that you won't be around to see it happen. Am I right?"

The leader nodded slowly.

Jack gave a sad smile. "Well, you can take your revenge on me before you go ... or you can start that new nation of Sycorax by just turning away. And I can start that new nation of humans by stopping them from shooting you from the sky. What do you say?"

xxx

Gwen didn't check her watch. She didn't dare measure the time she was just sitting there at Rhys's bedside in the uncomfortable hospital chair, waiting for him to wake up. The doctor had said that Rhys would be okay but Gwen would only believe that if he actually woke up.

So she was endlessly relieved when Rhys finally opened his eyes. He looked around in confusion but cracked a slightly dopey smile when he saw her at his bedside. "Hello, beautiful," he croaked.

Gwen felt tears gather in her eyes and suppressed a sob. She leaned down to kiss his lips. "You're going to be alright," she whispered, carding her fingers through his short hair with one hand.

"What happened anyway?" Rhys asked, wincing.

"You had a heart attack."

"A heart attack?" Rhys asked, blue eyes widened. "How the bloody hell can I have a heart attack? I just had a check-up and everything was fine." He coughed and Gwen made a soothing sound, stroking his cheek.

She smiled wryly. "These things happen, apparently." It surprised her that she was able to hold his gaze while she told the lie. Her job was probably bound to make her a better liar, even though that prospect scared her a bit.

He raised a hand, brushing her fringe out of her forehead. "Alright?"

She sniffed. "No. I thought ... when the call came, I thought ..." She brushed tears off her cheeks and shook her head in determination. "Doesn't matter. It didn't happen." She took his hand and kissed his forehead. "I'm sorry."

Rhys frowned. "What for?"

She sighed and gave a weak smile. There were so many answers to that question: For being connected to the reason for Rhys's heart attack, for lying to him about her job ... for sleeping with Owen. "I don't know, just ... that I wasn't there."

"You can't always be there. Don't be silly, Gwen. I was at work, you were at work ... there was nothing you could have done."

"Still," she replied.

He smiled at her, his voice a big stronger when he said, "I love you, you know."

She sniffed, suppressing a new well of tears. "You, too." She gave a teary laugh and tried to push away the guilt always looming behind her.

xxx

Thompson straightened his uniform jacket and turned away from the windows showing him the main Hub below. "This is our chance," he said to Wells, who was sitting at the head of the boardroom table, looking worried and thoughtful. "Shoot them from the sky, show them what happens to anyone threatening us. The longer we wait, the bigger a risk we're taking."

Wells raised his head to look at him, his brown eyes narrowing as he seemed to consider the words. Tosh swallowed and glanced at Owen who nodded at her calmly. Tosh focussed back on her laptop. With Jack gone, the situation seemed to be heading in a worse direction at lightning speed. Barely twenty minutes had gone by since Jack had been transported away. She doubted UNIT would listen to Owen or her as they had - however grudgingly - listened to Jack.

On the other hand, they still had Captain Nowak on their side. "Captain Harkness is on that ship," he said. "In case you had forgotten."

"Does it matter?" Thompson asked. "One life doesn't weigh more than many."

Tosh pulled her shoulders up and crossed her arms, huddling in her chair. She didn't want to be part of this conversation. She didn't want to hear which decisions were made.

Owen cleared his throat and leaned forward on the boardroom table. "I think we have a say in this as well. Considering we have just as many rights to interfere as you do."

"You?" Thompson replied in disbelief. "Torchwood? Five people in a hole in the ground, harbouring fugitives and dangerous creatures and playing around with whatever the Rift spits out? I think it's time you grew up."

Nowak narrowed his eyes, shooting a glare at Thompson. "You can't simplify it like that, Pete."

"Can't I?" Thompson asked. "Because Torchwood is over. We all know that ... let's act like it."

Tosh saw Owen tense and jerk in Thompson's direction and grabbed his wrist. In a low voice, she said, "It's not worth it."

"Oh, I think it is," he replied, freeing himself from her grasp. He got up, stepping closer to Thompson. "Be careful. Whatever the Rift spits out is not any less dangerous than what you deal with on a daily basis. We're just as in the middle of things as you are."

"Please," Thompson said with a snort. "All you get is the odd Weevil and time travellers you can't keep a hold of."

The punch was predictable. Tosh jumped off her chair, intending to intervene, but Nowak was faster. He hauled Owen off Thompson and Wells grabbed Thompson. Natasha had left her position at the door and put herself in-between the two of them, keeping them apart.

"Enough!" somebody yelled and they were all surprised to see it had been Harriet, speaking up from her quiet corner of the table. "Are you out of your mind?" she said to Owen. "I can smell the booze on you from over here and I don't care what the reason for Harkness's trust in you is, I think it's misplaced."

Owen snarled at her. "I suggest you stay out of things you don't know anything about. You're only here because you're connected to this mess. You caused all this."

"Get off your high horse, son," Harriet said. "Look closer at the file of your Captain and tell me that he's a sweetheart, because he isn't. Whenever it gets dangerous, whenever it gets violent, he seems to be around."

Thompson added, "And there are classified parts to his file. Nobody knows who we are really dealing with."

Harriet glared at him. "As if we can be sure who we are dealing with where UNIT is concerned. The Doctor may favour you over Torchwood, but in my eyes, that doesn't make a difference. You're only after technology and you'd risk innocent victims to get it. This wish to shoot them from the sky doesn't come from the need to protect, but the need to win."

"I don't care what you think," Thompson said.

Wells said, "We're going to give the order to shoot in three minutes. I just received confirmation that we're locked on the target and the Prime Minister already sanctioned it."

It got deathly quiet, Owen staring Thompson down while Harriet crossed her arms and shook her head, turning away.

Then Ianto cleared his throat.

Tosh hadn't even realized he'd entered. He was putting a tray on the boardroom table. "Coffee?" He set down a mug in front of Tosh and handed three others to Harriet and Owen as well as Nowak. "It'll calm tempers down."

Thompson snagged a mug off the tray, approaching Wells and starting to talk to him in hushed tones.

"I don't know if caffeine can be the solution here," Harriet said and sipped. "No matter how bloody good it is," she added appreciatively.

"Believe me," Ianto answered, "a cup of coffee can go a long way."

xxx

Jack had let the silence reign for a while, had let the Sycorax leader think about his words. He knew, though, that time was running out, so he cleared his throat softly and asked, "So, do we have a deal?"

The Sycorax looked at him. "You are not what I expected out of a Time Agent."

"I'm not a Time Agent anymore, to be absolutely honest. I cut all ties with the agency."

The leader smiled at him. "It is the Time Agency. We know the stories. As far as I heard, you never cut ties with them. I never met an agent who would want to."

"Well, they screwed me over," Jack replied and shrugged. "It wasn't hard to leave them."

The leader squinted at him as if he didn't quite know whether to believe him. "And you came here?"

"Coincidences ... a lot of them." Jack smiled wryly. "It wasn't my first choice, either, but I'm starting not to regret it all the time." He looked at the blood device. "Are there any more probes of human blood left?"

"No," the leader answered. "It was a miracle that we found this one drifting in the rubble left behind by my father's space ship. It will die with us. None of our race would dare come here again anyway." He looked at Jack earnestly. "This is a cursed planet ... but we will leave it alone."

Jack breathed a sigh of relief and tilted his head. "I guess I can't change your mind about what you're about to do."

"If we returned home, we would be outcasts. This mission was not sanctioned. My sister will rule until a new male heir has been found ... or maybe monarchy will end with me. The people started turning away from it anyway." He looked at Jack, his expression a mixture of sadness and relief. "You go back, live your life among them ... I hope they will not let you down."

Jack felt compelled to say something, to give this long journey worth, to apologize and to thank the leader, and he didn't have to think very hard about what he could say. "I'm sure he cried for your father. The Doctor."

The leader glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes. "They fought each other."

"But the Doctor is an honourable man. A good man. He would cry over a fallen enemy."

The leader seemed to accept that with a slow nod and then asked, "Would you?"

"No," Jack answered. "I'm not as honourable a man."

"I would disagree," the leader said and stepped up to a console that looked like it was carved out of stone. "After all, you wanted to die for them."

Jack closed his eyes when the blinding light of the transporter surrounded him and only opened them again when he heard Tosh give a relieved gasp. Before he'd got his bearings, she was hugging him tightly. He smiled, pulling her close and squeezing her tight. Over her shoulder, he met Owen's dark gaze. "It took longer than planned."

Owen snorted. "I'll say. It took half an hour. If UNIT had had anything to say about it, you would have been blown up ten minutes ago."

"You convinced them otherwise?" Jack asked, letting go of Tosh but keeping an arm around her shoulders.

"You could say so," Owen answered, stepping aside and allowing Jack to look at the boardroom table. Jack's eyes widened at the unexpected sight of Thompson and Wells sprawled in their chairs, fast asleep and snoring softly. Natasha was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall next to the door, also sleeping. Aside from his team, only Harriet Jones and Nowak were still awake, looking a bit embarrassed by it all.

Ianto was standing at the other end of the table, cradling a mug. "Must have been something in the water," he said calmly and sipped his coffee.

Jack started to grin. "Ianto Jones", he said, "you are beautiful."

Owen rolled his eyes.

"Jack," Tosh said, nodding at the flat screen.

He turned around and watched the red dot representing the Sycorax ship on the schematic image die. Only a second later, new satellite footage was displayed, showing a ball of fire where the ship had been.

He nodded slowly. "It's over."

Harriet leaned forward in her chair, staring at the pictures. Then her dark eyes found Jack's. "You killed them?"

Jack shook his head. "This was a suicide mission." He looked at Stephen. "Earth is safe now." The tension in the room eased and Jack gave a smile. "Well, I have to go make a phone call."

Ianto held up his mobile. "Your phone, sir."

Jack smiled at him and strode around the table, taking the mobile from him. Their fingers brushed and Jack winked at Ianto. "Let's solve another problem. I'm on a roll."

xxx

_"All you had to do was ask, Captain,"_ Saxon said.

Jack closed his eyes tightly and then looked through the window of his office up at the boardroom. "I'm going to repay each and every one of the favours I'm asking from you."

Saxon chuckled. _"I'm sure you will. I think we're founding quite the wonderful friendship here, Captain." _

Jack brushed a hand through his hair. He really wished he wouldn't have to resort to this, to make himself that vulnerable and dependent, but he had no other choice. "Now, can you do it?"

_"I'm the Minister of Defence,"_ Saxon said. _"I know how to make this go away. All it takes is a few well-placed words and promises and ... well, my natural charm."_

Jack rolled his eyes. "I would appreciate it if you could sort this out now."

_"Consider it sorted. Mr. Jones's records are wiped clean. I should inform you, though, that that won't help matters. I received a call from a friend and apparently, Mr. Jones is now considered a risk to himself and others and protective custody was requested."_

Jack grew cold, his chest tightening. "By whom?" he asked, assuming he already knew the answer.

_"Colonel Thompson. Roughly an hour ago. It was confirmed by his supervisors immediately." _

Jack's eyes widened when he saw Thompson stagger to the window of the boardroom and look down. He sank to the floor a moment later, fighting whatever Ianto had put in his coffee. Their eyes made contact and even though they were apart quite a way, Jack knew that the race was on. Thompson waved Natasha over who assisted him to his feet, staggering under his weight.

Jack opened the office door, his eyes skimming the main Hub, looking for Ianto. "Stop them."

_"I'm trying, but this is a bit harder to fight. After all, he killed several people at that UNIT facility."_

"How long is this going to take?"

_"I've got an appointment with the Prime Minister and I'm on my way there. But this will take an hour at least."_

"I don't have an hour."

_"Make it. Because as soon as the handcuffs touch his wrists again, I doubt I can interfere. He's theirs then."_ Saxon hung up.

Jack spotted movement in one of the corridors near the kitchen niche and quickly jogged over there. Ianto was refilling the coffee-maker. He looked at Jack with a smile, just as the boardroom door was opened loudly.

"Harkness!", Thompson called from above, but Jack ignored him.

Instead, he framed Ianto's face with his hands. "I won't let them take you."

Ianto nodded. "I know that you'll try but you-"

Jack interrupted Ianto with a passionate kiss, pulling him close. Ianto's hands scrabbled for a hold on his shoulders and he gasped against Jack's lips, enabling him to deepen the kiss. For just a moment, Ianto returned it just as passionately, but then he shook his head, gasping, "Jack ... Jack, I'll lose my grip ... Jack ..."

He let him go reluctantly, staring into his eyes. Ianto's breath was warm on his lips and he felt how tense he was, but also how warm and he'd missed this ... steps stumbling down the winding stairs forced him to focus. "I won't let them take you," he repeated. "Remember that." He stepped back and gave a helpless smile. "And it's not true. You didn't feel pathetic and needy on Christmas for being with me without getting more than uncertainty in return, not at all. Those feelings of inadequacy ... they were mine." He shrugged. "Because I don't deserve you. You saved my life several times over Christmas and I'm afraid I can't repay you in kind. But I can try."

Just when the steps reached the ground floor, Jack raised his gun, pointing it at Ianto's head. "And that's why I arrest you," he said loudly, "for treason."


	20. Chapter 20

**19.**

Thompson had both his hands braced on Jack's desk, glaring at him darkly. "This is ridiculous," he spat.

"Really?" Jack asked. "I thought about it and decided that Ianto Jones betrayed me and that I didn't do enough to punish him."

"But he betrayed you after he helped that monster escape, so he has to answer to that crime first."

"As far as I know, Ianto's file doesn't mention the crime you accuse him of." Jack showed him the print-out of the UNIT records of Ianto that had been wiped thanks to Saxon.

Thompson stared at him, dumbfounded.

"His Torchwood file on the other hand," Jack said, holding up the copy, "mentions him betraying the team and letting a Cyberwoman lose in this Hub. So, as I see it, I've got prior rights."

"He poisoned us!"

"He sedated you ... after he betrayed me. Still prior rights." Jack grinned.

Thompson straightened very slowly, his jaw locked and his green eyes blazing. "You bastard."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"You will regret this!" Thompson hissed. "You might have more influential friends than I do right now, Harkness, but Torchwood is going to fall and then you will, somehow, be looking at me for help. Remember that when I turn you down." He turned away and stalked off stiffly.

Jack didn't watch him, Natasha and Wells leave, he just leaned back in his chair and looked at the CCTV footage of Ianto sitting in his cell. He looked thoughtful, probably mulling over Jack's words to him. Jack steepled his fingers and pressed them against his lips, wondering what conclusion Ianto would draw.

Somebody cleared their throat and Jack looked at Stephen who was leaning in his office door. He was suppressing a smile. "I really wish you hadn't done that."

"Which part?" Jack asked.

Stephen chuckled. With his hands buried in his uniform trousers, he looked relaxed and like he was in a good mood. "I'm going to drive Miss Jones home," he said.

Jack nodded at him, becoming earnest. "Thank you for everything, Stephen."

"You people will be my death one day," Stephen sighed, then he winked and left.

In his stead, Gwen entered, looking slightly wary.

Jack smiled at her. "How's Rhys?"

"Fine," she answered cautiously. "Why was there an extremely angry UNIT soldier leaving the base not even a minute ago?"

Jack laughed and leaned back in his chair, relaxing for what seemed like the first time in weeks.

xxx

Jack opened the door to the cell and stepped inside. Ianto looked up at him questioningly and with a little amount of concern. Jack smiled. "It's over," he said. "Once and for all."

Ianto didn't show his relief but Jack saw him swallow and guessed that he was trying to suppress the feeling. He got up slowly and straightened his suit jacket. "Just like that?"

Jack smirked. "Not quite 'just like that' but easy enough." He held out a hand. "Coming?"

Ianto looked around the cell, then back at Jack. "You never arrested me. Not really."

Jack lowered his hand and shrugged. "I didn't need to."

"Why not?"

"Does it matter?"

Ianto looked at him searchingly for a long moment, then - to Jack's relief - he shook his head. "I guess it doesn't."

Jack nodded, glad he wouldn't have to skirt around his maybe-more-than-friendship-feelings with Ianto. He knew how Ianto felt about him and he carefully tried not to go too far with him, not to wake false hopes, by reigning himself in. He was still determined to leave with the Doctor to find answers ... even though it would hurt. However, he would come back, but since there was no guarantee for that, he rather didn't mention that particular intention to anyone.

Ianto sighed. "I should get home."

When he passed by Jack on his way out, Jack put a hand on his hip, stopping him. "Remember what I said upstairs?"

Ianto swallowed visibly and avoided his eyes. "You were wrong."

"I most certainly wasn't." He brushed his fingers down Ianto's cheek. "You were fine with us sleeping together all the time. You never felt pathetic for it, never. It was a misunderstanding, you thinking my feelings were yours."

Ianto closed his eyes. Jack could imagine that he was trying to keep his calm and he knew he was risking him losing it, but this was important. Finally, Ianto looked at him again. "How can you know that?"

Jack ducked his head, entwining their fingers. "I know because you never turned me away for that reason ... until you thought you'd feel that way."

Ianto turned to him fully, allowing Jack to pull him closer. "Why did you feel pathetic?"

Jack shrugged. "John being stranded here reminded me of a few harsh truths." He swallowed and leaned forward. "I died a lot of times over the years." He stared straight into Ianto's eyes. "I never killed myself, though. Not like that. Not by sitting and waiting. I killed myself by running into danger head-first, to save others, to take the fall so nobody else would have to ... never like that. It was ... stupid and senseless and I felt ashamed and pathetic afterwards."

Ianto squeezed Jack's hand and pressed a kiss to his lips. He lingered, his lips not yielding as they usually did ... but the kiss wasn't neutral, either. It was gentle and as sympathetic as Ianto could muster at the moment. "It wasn't senseless," Ianto whispered. "Just sitting there and waiting ... it might not have meant anything to anyone else but it meant the world to John."

Jack leaned his forehead against Ianto's and gave a smile, then he cleared his throat and straightened, returning to less dangerous territory before he would do something he'd regret. "I want you to have that training. Starting the 2nd of January. And I want you to use that time and think ... about us." He gave a wry smile. "In case there are any doubts left."

Ianto nodded slowly. "Okay."

"Okay."

Ianto put his hands in his pockets and raised a questioning eyebrow. "What did you have to do to get me out?"

Jack gave a casual shrug. "Nothing much."

"Made promises?"

"I owe Saxon some favours."

Ianto let out a breath. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. It was worth it." He dropped a kiss on Ianto's forehead. "So worth it."

xxx

Gwen found Owen in the boardroom, looking thoughtfully at the last pictures they had of the Sycorax ship. Left-over coffee mugs and papers were the only remaining witnesses that something had been going on here. Gwen started to gather them up, watching Owen from the corner of her eye. He didn't react to her presence at all, so she finally asked, "Alright?"

Owen seemed to startle out of his thoughts. He cleared his throat and crossed his arms. "No."

Gwen swallowed, hesitantly offering, "If you want to talk-"

"It's none of your business." His tone wasn't as harsh as it had been in the corridor, but still harsh enough to hurt.

"I'm just trying to help."

"You're trying too hard." He shook his head. "I don't want to talk about Diane with you." He took a deep breath. "Excuse me now ... Jack told me I'm on suspension again, so I need to leave."

"How long for?"

"Until further notice," he answered bitterly.

Gwen nodded slowly and gave him a comforting smile. "He just intends to help you get your act together."

"Yeah, all hail Saint Jack." Owen gave a self-deprecating laugh. "He'd do anything to keep control of the situation. Of Torchwood. Of the team. That's what we are, in the end, princess: Jack's little foot soldiers. His most valuable possession when we do what he says or spread our legs for him. Like Tosh and Ianto." He stepped closer and it took all of Gwen's determination not to take a step back at the cold look in his eyes. "But if we challenge him, if we think for ourselves, we get bothersome, you see. He shuts us out. All the information we get from him, we only get because we need it to survive. If at all."

Gwen frowned. She agreed with Owen on some points: Jack was pretty secretive about things the whole team should know about, but that didn't make him as bad a leader as Owen tried to make him out to be. "Why don't you leave if you hate him so much?"

Owen snorted and shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. "Because I don't hate him. Sad, right? This work, as shitty as it sometimes is, actually makes sense. We're doing some good here at least. Besides, I'd have to be retconned and I don't want that."

"He wouldn't retcon us," Gwen said, shaking her head.

"Are you sure about that? If it meant keeping his little kingdom secret, he certainly would." With that, he turned away.

"Owen ...," Gwen said and faltered.

"Don't worry," he answered with a sad shrug. "I'll be alright in a few days. Or at least, I'll be able to pretend I am."

With that, he turned away and left. Gwen looked after him, biting her lip and wondering whether that was true.

xxx

Snow was drifting through the icy air, falling into the bay and powdering the walk-way. The wind cut into Jack's cheeks but he wasn't cold. With the collar of his military coat turned up, he could withstand pretty much any weather. What made him shudder was the bleak picture of a sole man leaning against the rail of the walk-way, staring out over the channel. He had his shoulders pulled up against the cold, but the leather jacket probably didn't do a lot to protect him against the winter evening. He'd been standing here for a while, not moving, the orange light of the lamps on the walkway making him appear pale and wrung-out. Jack had watched him via CCTV before coming up here to confront him, feeling he owed it to him.

Now, he took a deep breath, bracing himself, and then cleared his throat, stepping closer. "You've been standing here for an awfully long time," he said, putting a gentle hand between Ben Bryan's shoulder blades.

Ben raised his head and looked up at Jack, his handsome face drawn and his grey eyes reddened. "You saved the world, I assume?"

"I'm sorry I didn't do it in time to save your fiancée."

Ben sniffed and wiped his eyes. "You know ...," he said with a bitter chuckle, "the online papers are filled with reports about a leak in a chemical plant that led to the groundwater being poisoned and causing heart attacks. And it sounds good. It sounds like the kind of story I'd want to hear. I'd have someone to blame, even if that plant has been closed for years." He scuffed his sneakers against the walkway. "But I know it's not true. I know it was aliens that took her from me."

"It was ignorance that took her from you," Jack replied. "Earth's ignorance." He put an arm around Ben's shoulder. "I'll buy you a pint, alright? Explain it to you."

Ben shook his head. "I can't ... not right now. I need to go to my parent's for dinner."

"Okay," Jack replied and made a point of meeting Ben's eyes. "Whenever you're ready, though."

"I'll come find you," Ben agreed with a nod.

"Come find me."

xxx

Jack had a late dinner with Ianto and Tosh before they retired to the guest quarters to sleep.

Jack put the Hub into night mode and then slowly made his way to the dimly-lit morgue, stopping at Alex's drawer. "This wasn't it," he said, knocking at the door. "This wasn't what you were talking about, was it? The dark thing that will come and change everything." He leaned his back against the drawer and turned his head, feeling the cold steel against his cheek. "You'd think being a Time Agent, I'd know what was coming but ... surprisingly enough, I never was much interested in the 21st century. I preferred the 20th." He sighed deeply. "So you need to help me out here: What were you talking about? And is it the same thing the seer saw coming? The thing destroying time?"

Alex Hopkins didn't answer.

xxx

"Excuse me."

Owen startled out of his thoughts and looked to his right, where an older man in a dark coat was smiling at him.

"Is this seat taken?"

Owen looked around, but the bar of the pub was packed - just like the rest of the room - and the seat next to him the only one available. "No, go ahead," he said before turning back to stare into his pint, hoping the old bloke would get the hint and not start a conversation.

"I'll have a brandy, please," the bloke told the bartender, "and another glass of whiskey for my friend, Mr. Harper."

Owen turned to him sharply. "What the fuck?" he asked. "Do I know you?"

"Not yet," the man answered, "and you won't in about an hour. All you will remember is staggering home and into bed and that your evening was spent alone."

That didn't sound good. Owen tried to get up but he couldn't move. He tried to grab his mobile, address the bartender but it felt like he was frozen in place. He felt vulnerable, attacked in the middle of a crowded pub ... and nobody noticed.

"Torchwood is a nuisance," the old bloke said, staying completely calm. "I wish it wouldn't have to come down to this but unfortunately, we don't have much of a choice."

"What is this?" Owen asked, only managing a whisper.

"An infiltration," the old bloke said. "I'll just need a minute."

There was ... something happening in his head. Owen _felt_ that there was a presence, another person ... shuffling through his memories, looking at his thoughts ...

A young woman leaned on the bar between them, the bartender handing her a few pints. She left again, apologizing fleetingly when she bumped into the older man. He just chuckled with a fond smile. Owen still couldn't move, all his muscles paralysed ... all the while, the old man was looking through his head.

"Oh," the older bloke said, pleasantly surprised. "You're easier to read than Mr. Jones." He sipped his drink. "You feel loyal to the Captain, as he does, but you're also not quite sure if you can really trust him while Mr. Jones exhibits an immense loyalty, even though he's not following the Captain blindly like you think. Conversations behind closed doors, Mr. Harper. The Captain knows that Mr. Jones might just be his biggest critic and he welcomes his opinion." He smiled crookedly. "You don't approve of that, do you? Eager to have such an influence on Jack yourself. You want to be just as respected by him but … you disappointed the Captain and you're disappointed in yourself." He shook his head sadly. "Aphrodisiacs make the other person want it just as badly, blur the lines. Little Molly won't go to the police, but I certainly hope you've learned your lesson." Owen felt nauseous when Lizzy Lewis's pain overwhelmed him again, her fear … the man nodded. "You definitely understand now."

"Who the hell are you?" Owen asked. It was hard to speak, hard to form words, to understand ...

"Manger, Bilis Manger," the old bloke answered.

His influence lessened, as if he'd seen what he'd wanted to see. He stopped going through Owen's head, instead just keeping the paralysis up.

Now, Owen could actually make sense of the world again and he remembered what Manger had told him about Ianto ... and what it meant. "You attacked Ianto a few weeks back?"

"He doesn't remember, of course," Bilis answered. "And you won't either." The grip inside his head vanished entirely and Owen gasped, feeling as if he'd held his breath for a minute. Bilis chuckled. "So, there. All done."

Owen looked at him in alarm. "What did you do?"

"I created a door for me to step through when I need it. For me to manipulate you when I need Jack gone." He donned black leather gloves and turned up the collar of his coat. "Which will be soon. Now, Mr. Harper, I have to leave. We will meet again." He smiled and Owen got dizzy. When blackness descended, he heard Bilis say to someone, "Better call him a cab. I think he might have had enough."

When Owen awoke in his bed the next day, he remembered having drunk too much.

Nothing else.

END

11/13

**Sequel: Eternal Watchers (WIP)**

When a warning from a girl Jack thought was dead reaches Torchwood, Ianto and Archie stop returning Jack's calls and a mysterious emergency signal alarms Torchwood Three, the team has no other choice but to split up. With Jack and Ianto in Scotland, Tosh in London and Gwen and Owen chasing ghosts, the Torchwood Institute finds itself forced to face one of the darkest chapters of its history. A chapter in which Archie plays one of the leading parts.

While an unknown enemy is starting to gain control over Earth, loyalties are questioned, love is found, hearts are stopped and secrets are revealed ... and yet, all this is just the beginning.


End file.
